Loss, Redemption, Revenge
by Storm VII
Summary: Jubei is dead... killed during Terumi's betrayal. Now Hakumen must take his place as the surviving hero of this world. Soon Terumi will send his full plans into motion and Hakumen will again make an impossible choice... Ragna x Harem
1. Prologue

Prologue

 **ISYANA: The Old Gate**

" **TERUMI!** " Jubei shouted as he charged the traitor, his sword gripped firmly between his tails. The hooded man deflected the katana with a knife and gave a sadistic grin.

"Aw, look who's here. Welcome to the show kitty!" He said in a sing-song voice. "It's nice to see you again after all this time! How have things been with the kid and Nine? ...Oh right, I just put her and Trinity into the boundary for good… AKWAAAAAAAAARD!"

"You pathetic scum!" the one-eyed lotus shouted, ready to charge again and claim blood.

"Calm yourself, cat," a powerful commanded. The White Susanooh, Hakumen, walked to Jubei's side. "We may not stand a chance otherwise."

"But Nine-!"

"Will be avenged, I promise you," Hakumen assured his companion. "If we're to stand a chance you need to-"

"TOO LATE ASSHOLES!" Terumi shouted as he sent out a blast of jade green energy. The energy shot Jubei completely through, severely wounding several of his vital organs. The hero fell to floor.

" **DAMN YOU!** " Hakumen shouted as he slashed Terumi across the body with his sword. Terumi was severely injured from that attack, and the snake knew a lost cause when he saw one.

Hakumen reeled his sword back for another attack, one that would finish the snake for good… but Terumi flung himself over the Cauldrons edge.

"Not a bad show Haku! I'll be back later for my encore! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Terumi's laughter echoed his entire fall into the boundary.

"Nine…" Jubei rasped out. "Koko…no…" With that, he fell still, never to move again.

Hakumen regarded the body of his long time friend and companion saying nothing. He'd grown close to Jubei all of the years the two had spent trying to stop the black beast, but now that was over. Hakumen sheathed his sword and grabbed his friend's body to give him the proper burial outside the city. When Hakumen looked at the completed tomb, he again said nothing. Any words would have fallen on deaf ears.

*The church of Celica A. Mercury*

 _Why couldn't things have been different?_ Hakumen thought to himself as he watched Celica cry, her sobs echoing throughout the church. _No, I can't let myself by held by this._ "Celica, I know this will sound unfair after what you've just heard, but I need a favor from you."

Celica stopped crying for a moment before nodding.

"I need you to watch over this place. Terumi swore he would return; I intend to be prepared for that."

"I can always watch over this place, but what about Kokonoe?"

"Jubei had told me that the she was being watched by the Librarium." Noticing the concern in her eyes, he decided to elaborate. "Rest assured, I will check on her regularly… in secret, of course."

"What are you planning on doing to prepare for Terumi?"

"I must finish Nine's work. Hunting the Nox Nyctores has now become my foremost priority…" Hakumen made his way to the door. "Again… I am sorry. Farewell."

"I know you don't get along well with her… but you could go to Miss Rachel for help. Please, do it for Nine and Jubei."

Hakumen paused before nodding.

Sometime later, he encountered a boy and his two siblings. Inside the boy, he sensed the power of the Black Beast. He knew that one day he would have to end him… but in the meantime he would be useful for luring out Terumi. He left those children in the church with Celica. Much time passed…

*Castle Alucard*

"It seems that even you could not find them all." Rachel was uneasy with her worry as Valkenhayn poured the tea. If Hakumen had trouble obtain the Nox, then there was little they could do.

"… We have the Muchorin; that is not for nothing," Hakumen assured her from where he leaned against the wall. "If I were to go after the others, we would alert the NOL. I think we do not need to make our reappearance just yet."

"I suppose you are right…" Rachel paused. "How is Kokonoe?"

"The girl is fine; she and I have grown used to each other during my visits… She seems just as strong headed as her mother." A small, low, rumble was emitted from Hakumen, surprising everyone, including the source. Had that been… a chuckle? "At any rate, I shall take my leave. Farewell, Harlequin."

"Of course," Rachel said exasperatedly. "You just have to attempt insult at me every chance you get. Do you get off on that by chance? "

"Somewhat," Hakumen admitted, chuckling again.

*One month later*

 _I sense of foreboding darkness. It seems that the time has come to return to the church._ The Hero knew what he had to do. Take the Black Beast, the very thing he'd been charged with killing, bring it out of hiding, and use it to lure out the most dangerous being in the world. It was a long shot but it had to work. Once it did, the child form of the Black Beast would be extinguished as well. Hakumen's mind was clear as he approached the church area, before he felt the darkness again, but closer and… focused.

" **NO!** " he shouted as he sprinted towards the church. _Terumi couldn't have returned! Not yet!_

His pleas went unanswered as he saw the burning husk of the village. "Celica!" he called out, before he saw the body. It was bloody and bent at a terrible angle on a wood beam, her face filled with agony. Hakumen took the mage's body down and buried the body, something he was become more familiar with these days.

 _Now she has fallen due to my failures as well. Terumi now has all of the children. All hope is lost._ Hakumen started to make his way out of the ruble as he again felt darkness. He first thought it had been the feeling of death, but then it was focused; focused, but weak. _Or… is it?_

(Cue Kingdom Hearts: _Ven's Theme_ )

He did not have to search at all to find what he was looking for. The Harlequin was already there, overlooking the child. The BlazBlue had attached itself to where Hakumen had assumed the child's right arm had been. _Ragna,_ he thought to himself as he remembered the name Celica had called him by. Rachel looked towards Hakumen.

"I cannot and will not stand in your way. Do what you need to," she said sadly.

Hakumen unsheathed his Okami, the blade reflecting the light of the crimson fire. He positioned the blade so that it was right over the child's chest. His only gift would be a clean death. He brought the blade back… but paused. This child had gone through the most traumatic experience of his life, one that would continue to haunt him well into adulthood. Could he really go through with killing him while he suffered the most?

 _I'd be putting him out of his misery,_ Hakumen assured himself. He tensed as he prepared the killing blow.

"J-Jin…"

Had Hakumen a human body, that one word would have caused it to shiver. _Can he know?_

"Sa-Saya…"

 _Apparently not; he's only delusional with the pain._ Hakumen brought the blade into ready position once more before swinging it.

"I'm so-"

The blade stopped; a hair from the child's body.

"s-sorry… I c-could have… s-stopped him… all of this… It's a-all my fault… I'm sorry…" the child's voice was little more than a rasp.

Hakumen did nothing but stare at the child.

"Don't be cruel mister Hero," Rachel scolded Hakumen. "If you're really going to kill this child, then do it quickly to end his pain."

Hakumen moved the blade away from the child. "No… I will not kill him." He sheathed the sword on his back.

"Then you intend to simply let him die?" Rachel said narrowing her eyes. "I'd known you to be harsh, but cru-"

…

…

…

No words could explain Rachel's surprise as Hakumen took young Ragna under his arm and carried him.

" _ **I WILL TRAIN HIM.**_ "

 **A/N: I don't own BlazBlue.**

 ***Sigh* What am I doing giving myself an even busier schedule? At this rate I might have to start doing tri-weekly.**

 **Anyways, not the twist you were expecting? *Grins* Get ready for a story you never thought possible. This is going to be one hell of a show!**

 **Anyways, rate, review, and check out my Fire Emblem story** _ **A Reaper's Awakening**_ **while you're at it.**

 **Ciao.**


	2. A New Life

**Arc One: THE CALAMITY**

 _Fate I: A New Life_

There was silence in the Kagutsuchi port. Larry, the official passport checker, yawned to himself. It had been a relatively slow day at the port and the ships that did arrive had been fairly empty. He'd joined the NOL so that he'd get a high salary, but no one had told him how boring his job would be. He'd imagined himself in the law enforcement front taking down crime and wrong doers, not constantly working behind a desk and listening to every excuse of why someone forgot or lost their passport.

Larry rested his head on his hand and closed his eyes. The only decent part of the job was the guys he drank with after every shift. They were good people and great for a laugh, but he didn't see them much outside the bar, and he'd never met anyone interesting at work… so much for an exciting life.

His eyes still closed, Larry heard footsteps approaching him. ' _Great,'_ he thought. _'Someone must have overslept on the last vessel. With my luck they'll have lost their passport too._ "Passport, sir," Larry said to the traveler, holding out his free hand.

"Here," the man said simply, pressing the passport into Larry's hands.

Larry finally opened his eyes to look at the passport; they grew wide when he noticed the name. He looked up from the passport, his mouth gaping, it was the person in the passport all right. ' _What's he doing here!?'_ Larry thought astounded.

"Uh, certainly. Did you enjoy your trip sir?" Larry asked trying not to lose himself.

"I guess. Thanks for asking," the man said taking his passport back.

"Right, well enjoy your day Mr. Bloodedge," Larry said, attempting not to embarrass himself.

"You too," Ragna said before walking away.

Larry leaned over the counter for a better view as the 'Grim Reaper' made his way out of the port station and into town. Once the man was out of sight, Larry leaned back into his chair. _'Never meet anyone interesting on the job, huh?_ ' Now he couldn't wait for his shift to end. This would be a hell of a story for him to tell the guys at the bar.

*Kagutsuchi street's*

Ragna made his way down the street, his red coat flowing with the breeze. He twin Ars Magus katanas rested in the sheaths above his giant sword, Blood-Scythe. His Ars Magus Sub-Machine gun and Shotgun were set between his katanas.

"Hey, is that who I think it is?" he heard from around the corner.

"That's him alright, Ragna the Bloodedge."

"What's the greatest bounty hunter in history doing in Kagutsuchi?!"

"I don't know, last I heard he was in Ikaruga until not too long ago."

"Look at him! He's armed to the teeth with all of those weapons!"

"From what I hear, to him weapons are really just a precaution. He's been known to take an entire criminal organization with nothing but his bare hands and get out without a scratch."

Ragna shook his head; he'd heard all of the rumors of his reputation, the good and the bad. There were only two facts everyone knew was true, Ragna's perfect record and his record of the most bounties collected in a year that remained unbeaten to this day.

' _So this is Kagutsuchi,'_ he thought to himself. _'I should get started, there's no telling how long recon is going to take here.'_

*Castle Alucard*

Rachel sat in her garden, sipping her tea out of her priceless china set, while Hakumen stood across from her, his arm folded as he impatiently waited for her to speak. Finally, she set her finished cup down and regarded the White Susanooh.

"You said that you had something important to tell me?" she said to the Hero.

"It seems that my apprentice has arrived in Kagutsuchi and is currently attempting to do reconnaissance. It won't be long for he decides to attack the cauldron."

"Oh, that's all? I thought you once told me yourself that you are not my messenger, yet here you stand now delivering to me the simplest of messages, and one that I already know."

"Cease these games! You and I are both well aware of the importance of this cauldron! This was where he fell so many times before!"

Rachel allowed herself a small giggle. "Is this coming from the man who claims to care nothing about his apprentice?"

"If he dies, all I will have lost is a significant investment of my time," Hakumen said, unrelenting.

"But he won't die, will he? After all, you were the one who trained him… and even you acknowledge he's far exceeded your expectations. Admit it, Mr. Hero; Ragna was the closest thing you have ever had to a son, and now, after all these years of denying it, you paternal instincts are causing you to worry."

"I have no son," Hakumen replied, his tone even. "Though I am worried; Terumi has yet to reappear. And now that we're approaching the point of the calamity trigger, it seems more likely that he would intervene. Unlike a decade ago, you and I both now know the almost never ending cycle that ensued in Kagutsuchi during the alternate timeline."

"Indeed," Rachel acknowledged. "But don't forget, you played a role in that cycle as well. How many times did you slay Ragna then I wonder?" Hakumen remained silent. "More to the point, what would you suggest we do about it? You and I can't intervene, and there are no individuals we could place in the hierarchal city who could make that difference without destroying the flow of events and causing larger scale interventions."

"…I may have one in mind," Hakumen said mysteriously.

*Kagutsuchi Merchant Sector*

Ragna continued doing reconnaissance though out the city. _I've checked most of the midsection already; tomorrow I'll check the lower levels and the branch._ He let out a yawn and stretched. _Now I need to find a place to spend the night._ Ragna began searching through the street for an inn, but they had "No Vacancy" signs on them. Something else did catch his eye; a Blue NOL uniform, but more importantly, the person wearing it.

"Noel!" Ragna called out. The officer in question looked back in confusion, but once she noticed who called her name her face brightened.

"Ragna!" the Noel yelled as she ran to him, her smile never leaving her face. "Long time no see!"

"Yeah, it has been awhile," the Grim Reaper said with a grin. "So what are you doing in Kagutsuchi?"

"I was repositioned here for work, but I'll be moving back to headquarters in another month," Noel told him. "What about you?"

"Taking a break from bounty hunting," he said truthfully. "How's Makoto been?"

"She's been doing really well! Her new post is making her travel a lot, but we still see each other every now and again."

"Glad to hear it."

While Ragna may have been against the NOL in secret, he'd never seen Noel or her beastkin friend Makoto as his enemies. The three had meet on one of his jobs years ago, and after a rocky start, quickly became close friends. They had meet on several occasions after that, all of them one of Ragna's bounty contracts. The Reaper had been slightly offset by the fact that Noel looked exactly like Saya, but he'd chosen to see her as her own person, not as someone from his past. As for Makoto, she'd been a great sparring partner and someone to share a good laugh with.

"So," Ragna began, "Are you in the middle of something right now?"

"Not really," Noel responded. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to find a nice restaurant and grab some dinner, my treat."

Noel felt her cheeks flush. _'Is this really happening? Is he really asking me on a date?'_ "I'd love to!" the officer replied hastily, and a little louder than she'd meant.

Ragna gave a small chuckle. _Typical Noel._ "Come on then, let's go."

Noel nodded as she and Ragna headed off. Ragna tried to keep his eyes peeled for a restaurant, but wasn't having much luck. "So, where do you like to go to eat?"

Noel thought to herself for a moment. "Well there's this restaurant a few streets down that serves a really good curry, maybe we could try there?" Ragna nodded and Noel beamed.

"Is that really Ragna the Bloodedge?" the two heard a voice say. It had come from a group of women sitting on a street bench.

"He's even handsomer than I've been told!" another voice said.

"And so tall!" a third one noted.

"I wonder if he's still single?" a fourth chimed in.

Ragna sighed; he didn't exactly enjoy this kind of attention, sometimes it became a full-on nuisance to him. He noticed a tugging sensation on his arm and noticed Noel had protectively grabbed it, almost as if to let anyone know he was hers.

Ragna smirked, ' _Someone's clingy.'_ "Don't worry about me Noel," he said reassuringly. "I'm going out to dinner with you, not them." Noel nodded, blushing slightly. "And frankly, I don't think there's any way they can compare with you."

Noel felt her face go deep crimson. "R-R-Ragna! Don't joke like that!"

Ragna let out a laugh. "What? I'm being serious here!"

Noel put her lip up in a pout, but on the inside she was happy he'd said it. She'd always been fond of Ragna and… she'd been thinking about him a lot recently. ' _Before we part I'm going to confess how I feel to him. I promised him last time that I'd have more confidence, so I'm going to show it to him!'_

They arrived at the restaurant not long after that. After ordering their food (curry and rice for both of them), the two decided to further discus what they've been up to.

"So Makoto finally got that promotion she's been doing extra shifts for since last month," Ragna said. "Well good for her."

Noel nodded. "She just got it yesterday and had to call me about it. She was planning this big get together with me and Tsubaki once the three of us managed to meet up again. You should come too; I know Makoto would love to see you again and Tsubaki's interested in meeting you."

"Count on it," Ragna accepted. "I'll make sure to keep some time open from bounty hunting; just let me know when you're thinking."

"Sure thing," Noel grinned before her smile deflated somewhat. "But the real problem will be finding a time that'll work out for the three of us."

"Have thing's been busy at work?" Ragna asked.

Noel nodded. "Yeah, with all of the branches being destroyed the NOL is shifting all of the resources to find out who the perpetrator is, but we don't have any idea who could do something on this scale. Pair that with the disappearance of Major Kisaragi after the Ikaruga civil war and you've got everyone working triple shifts."

"Sounds tough," Ragna said before their food arrived. He thanked their waiter, and the two started to eat. Noel hadn't been exaggerating, it was good.

"So how long are you staying in Kagutsuchi?" Noel asked, trying to change the subject.

"About a week," Ragna said. "Then it's right back to work. The only problem I have now is finding an open inn. The ones I've come across are all booked."

"My apartment has a guest room in it. You could stay there," Noel offered.

"I don't want to impose-" Ragna started.

"You won't be imposing, trust me. I wasn't using that room for anything anyways."

"Heh, thanks Noel," Ragna said as he continued eating his food. _'Leave it to Noel's kind heart to have a solution for almost anything,_ ' he thought.

*The Forest Surrounding Kagutsuchi*

"Thank you for meeting here on such short notice," Hakumen said to his contact as he held an old fashioned briefcase given to him by Valkenhayn.

"The message said I was supposed to be contacted here by someone named Peter Gilman… but I can see why you lied." Hakumen's contact gave a small laugh. "Still, you know that the NOL executes anyone who commits identity fraud, don't you?"

"You think that is an issue for me?" Hakumen questioned. "Regardless, I have all one thousand Platinum dollars with me here as an upfront payment," he said setting down the suitcase.

"That's awfully trusting of you. What's to stop me from taking the money and never seeing you again?"

"Besides the fact that I would hunt you down?" Hakumen suggested without bravado. "There's your record to consider, not including the fact that I know you won't turn away from this mission."

"What even is the mission?" the contact asked. "The personal message you sent me told me next to nothing except for the fact that you wanted me specifically. What's with all the secrecy?"

"A calamity is about to fall Kagutsuchi. I am unsure of the specifics, but they will no doubt involve the NOL and my apprentice. He will never admit it, but he will need your help if he's to survive this advent. Your job is to find him and stay with him."

The figure scoffed. "If he's your apprentice, I'm sure he can handle himself. I'm not interested in a job that gives me so little to go off of. I'm also not about to challenge the Librarium for a measly one thousand platinum dollars." Hakumen's contact proceeded to make their way away from Kagutsuchi, but that was before he played his trump card.

"Not even if your cooperation saves the life of Ragna the Bloodedge?"

The contact halted. "What are you-?"

"I know the bond shared between the two of you and the respect you have for one another. I also know that you won't let him die without proving yourself to him." His questions were rewarded with silence. "I'll leave the money here, farewell."

The figure stayed silent in the clearing, before laughing to herself.

"…So Ragna's the apprentice of one of the six heroes? That explains so much!" Still chuckling, she walked over and grabbed the briefcase off the ground as she started heading for Kagutsuchi.

"Ragna, what the hell are you getting me into?" Bullet asked herself with a smirk on her face.

 **Authors Note:**

 **I don't own BlazBlue.**

 **IdeaPerson1097: Thanks for the concern, I feel like I'm probably overworking myself, but let's just hope it doesn't affect my work.**

 **keyz05: Thanks, I hope that you enjoy the ride.**

 **tremenvan: I hoped someone would say that. The first chapter was made only to set the stage and leave the reader with a sense of awe in that final scene.**

 **: Well look no further. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.**

 **Blackace70: Not to disregard your comment, but we already talked over PM. Glad to see I've caught your attention though.**

 **For those of you that wanted to see the training, all I have to say is have patience; all good things will come to those who wait. I know I seem to be focusing more on these chapters than my scheduled ones, but I just had an idea for those two that couldn't wait. If you want to, leave any ideas for new weapon names in the reviews, I may use them toward my story.**

 **Anyways, rate, review, and I'll see you next chapter.**


	3. Friends and Family

_Fate_ _II: Friends and Family_

 **BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!BE-!**

Noel groaned as she slammed her fist down on the devil tool known as an alarm clock. _'Thank god for Fridays'_ she thought to herself before getting out of her bed. Since she worked at the NOL, she had to start work at six in the morning, meaning she woke up at 5 am every morning. She made her way out of her bedroom before pausing in the hallway next to her guest bedroom. She slowly creaked the door open. The bed inside was empty, it didn't even look like it had been slept in.

 _'I guess that would be too good to be tru_ _e,'_ she thought to herself, depressed. _'I've been thinking of Ragna so much lately I'm even dreaming of him... I guess he'd never really-"_

At that moment, she heard a light sizzling sound coming from the kitchen, immediately her nostrils were filled with the scent of bacon. Surprised she rushed to her kitchen and was shocked at what she saw. Ragna was wearing his casual red sleeveless shirt, which showed both his natural arm and the BlazBlue (Noel's one of the few people to know what it is), and a white apron, as he cooked scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon in the frying pan.

After adding a dash of pepper to the eggs, he dished out breakfast for two on white plates. "Mornin'," he said to Noel as he put the plates on her kitchen table. Noel was speechless before Ragna added, "Nice pajama's," with a smirk.

Noel blushed as she realized that she was wearing the bright red pajama's Makoto had gotten for her a long time ago... the ones with little panda's on them chewing bamboo stalks. "Well I-!" she was about to defend herself before she noticed Ragna's attire and grinned. "Well, what about your apron?"

 _"Damn it,'_ Ragna thought, now blushing himself. The apron he was wearing had the saying ' _Cookin' AND Good Lookin''_ on the front in pink cursive (she'd gotten that one from Makoto as well). "Yeah, well... you really need to get a different apron set; the rest of them had Sailor Moon designs on them."

"Hey! Don't diss Sailor! You've never even seen the show OR the movies!"

' _If only she knew...'_ Ranga thought to himself grimly. "You gonna eat breakfast or what?"

"I'm not about to let this go to waste! Thanks for cooking, I usually have to skip breakfast for the NOL branch," Noel said before she seated herself.

"How the hell do you deal working with those backbreakers?" Ragna asked before sitting down himself and digging in to his eggs. "I'd go crazy after only a week of doing it."

"You start to get used to it after a while, and the pay's really good so it helps my family out. I almost have enough to pay for their retirement."

"Then what?" Ragna had to ask.

Noel stopped eating. "What do you mean?"

"The last time we saw each other you and Makoto said that you were only in the NOL to help your families. You're almost done with that, so what comes next?"

"I-!" Noel was about to say something before stopping herself.

"What?"

"I can't say it..."

"Come on Noel, it's probably not that bad."

"You'd laugh."

"I swear I won't," Ragna said looking her in the eyes. "You can trust me."

Noel gulped and took a deep breath. "I wanted to be a... bounty hunter, like you."

Ragna grinned as he leaned back in his chair. "And you thought I'd laugh at this why?"

"Well, IWANTEDWORKWITHYOU!" It was obvious Noel was forcing herself to say this before she lost courage.

"Well, I could always use so extra help, so sure," Ragna said before resuming his meal.

Noel looked at Ragna with her dear-in-the-headlights expression. Had Ragna just accepted working with her? "What?"

"It's a pretty dangerous job, but I know you can hold your own in a fight. Plus, you don't have to wake up at 5 AM every day, so that's a plus."

"Great!" Noel said cheerfully. She beamed at Ragna, but that was before she noticed the time. "Oh no! I'm already running late!"

Noel quickly scarfed down the rest of her food before running into the shower. Ragna smirked as he finished his own breakfast, put his hamaka and jacket on, and set out his last surprise for Noel. "I'm heading out!" he shouted over the running shower. "I'll see you later tonight!"

"Bye!" Noel called from inside the shower.

Ragna headed out of Noel's apartment for his day of reconnaissance. _So Noel wants to work with me of all people... Could she really say that if she knew what I was?_

Noel exited the shower and put on her NOL uniform and her overcoat. She was about to leave, until something on the table caught her eye; a small brown sack with her name on it. She smiled as she opened it; inside was a sandwich, some fruit, and a can of juice. _Ragna's even willing to make me lunch as a surprise... Can he feel the same way about me?_

* * *

*Castle Alucard*

Hakumen knelt in Rachel's garden while he meditated. Even if he'd retained a normal body, he doubted it would be possible for him to enjoy the pleasantries of sleep. Even in some of his waking hours, nightmares from the past hounded him, but he would never give these hounds the satisfaction of deterring him from his goal. Meditation throughout the night gave him a chance to clear his mind, gather his thoughts, or give him peace, sometimes all three.

He did try to meditate during the day, but for whatever reason, the apprentice he was training at the time would always deem that as 'Annoy Master Hakumen' time. Ragna had taken a few times, but he'd learned not to disrupt the White Susanooh if he didn't want to endure a 12 hour sparring session. Though after awhile Hakumen had started deeming those sessions mandatory if he wanted his apprentice to progress.

Platinum, well that was another story, she still hounded him during his meditation to this day. He'd remembered the obnoxious child from the alternate timeline, but for whatever reason there had been an alteration to the Muchorin. Now there were only two souls; the soul of his friend Trinity Glassfield, and the soul of a young lady who only called herself Platinum.

The girl's personality had become a mix of the two previous souls. While she carried Luna's hardheadedness and energy, she had also was also very respectful to him, not unlike Sena. The child had shown a strong aptitude for Ars Magus early in training, and even her form was different. Her appearance was almost the same as that of Platinum the Trinity, save for she was now in her late teens and was already wearing glasses (loaned to her by Kokonoe).

While training her, Hakumen had begun to worry about his current state of mind. It was true that he still focused on his goal of eradicating Yuki Terumi, but he felt that he was becoming... soft. No longer did he feel that Terumi's eradication was necessary no matter what cost, but now he felt that his real goal was to make sure Platinum was alive by the end of this... and a very small part of him wished that the Black Beast could've been anyone other than his first apprentice.

Snapping out of his meditation, Hakumen heard the sound of light footsteps behind him and heard the almost inaudible clink as a tea set was placed on the gardens' table with the grace and skill of someone who had done it for centuries. "Valkenhayn..."

"Oh, pardon me, Master Hakumen. I did not wish to interrupt your meditation. Perhaps these old bones of mine are finally starting to catch up with me." The former king of beasts was a perfectionist when it came to his work. Everything he did for his Masters would be done only with the greatest precision, nothing less.

"I was already done," Hakumen assured his comrade. "Where is Platinum?"

"Still sleeping in the guest room and Madame Rachel is currently bathing. Do you still plan to depart after she awakens?"

"Indeed. There is still the matter of her training... I will also need to observe Kagutsuchi from a distance should Terumi decide to strike."

"I had thought you had already prepared for that when you brought Miss Bullet into the events. Surely that will be enough?" Valkenhayn adjusted the flowers in the pot by the slightest of touches, but in his mind it was the difference between mediocre and perfection.

"We lost Jubei, Nine, and Trinity because we had underestimated Terumi, a mistake we cannot make again. I have provided my former apprentice with the means to avoid causing a never ending continuum, but Yuki Terumi must fall to my hands alone. Only I am able to completely destroy him."

"As you insist my old friend, but you do know you are not the only one to carry this burden?"

Hakumen said nothing as he rose. ' _If I carry this burden, I carry it alone. That way if I fall, I fall alone.'_

* * *

*Kagutsuchi: NOL office*

Noel sat in her office overlooking her papers regarding the last attack on the NOL's branch. Eyewitness reports confirmed nothing; there were no two that agreed with each other. Analysis of the branches remains, well there weren't enough remains to analyze. And for survivors... any NOL guards left in that city were far away from the branch when it had been destroyed.

Noel sighed to herself as she checked the time. _Only 11:30, I still have four and a half hours left... Time for a lunch._

Noel was about to leave her office and head straight for the cafeteria, but that was before she remembered that a **certain someone** had made lunch for her today. She smiled as she grabbed the brown sack and headed off for the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was only occupied by a few people now, but Noel cringed as she saw that her co-worker Jill was there with her flunkies Trish and Illia. Jill was a few years older than Noel and a position behind her in overall rank. She had scarlet red hair that went to her waist and a very slim hourglass frame, but what Noel found most infuriating was that Jill would practically wave her 'assets' in her face. Not only did Jill remined Noel about the difference in their cup sizes verbally, she had insisted on wearing a skin tight outfit to show her clevage off, needless to say this got her a lot of attention from all of the men at the base. Noel had tried to make friends with her when she first arrived at the branch, but Jill only saw her as a rival due to their difference in rank.

Noel sat down as far away from Jill as she could, but she could still hear the comments tossed her way from the vixen.

"Uh-oh, looks like Noel brought her own lunch today... Hey, Trish, I think I might've found out what killed the other NOL branches. A new bomb call ' _Cooking a la Vermillion.'_ The three laughed after the rude joke, each shooting a mocking gag to Noel. Noel shook her head as she bit into the sandwich; herb roasted turkey with mustard on whole wheat bread, her favorite.

"Mind if I join you?"

Noel looked up and saw Clark, one of her co-workers with a tray of food in his hand and a yellow folder under his arm. Clark was a few rank below Noel, but the two were able to make fast friends despite their difference in rank. He had cropped blond hair, brown eyes behind his glasses, and had a very scrawny build. He'd invited her over to his place for dinner with him and his girlfriend May. It also didn't hurt their friendship that Clark was literally the only guy in this NOL branch that was immune to Jill's charms. Noel smiled at her co-worker and motioned for him to sit with her.

"Taking a break a little early today?" Clark casually asked. Noel nodded. "Well, with the threat to the NOL and so little to go off of, I think the stress is starting to get to all of us."

"Yeah, but we're going to have to find a conclusion sooner or later."

"Well I certainly hope it's sooner rather than later... I'm going to have to start taking Paternity leave pretty soon."

Noel's eyes grew wide as she regarded her co-worker. "You don't mean-" Noticing Clark's small smile Noel gave a happy scream. "Congratulations! How far along is May?"

"Only two months, but we've already started visiting the doctor's office. It's an amazing feeling, knowing I'm going to be a father to the greatest little girl in history."

Noel cocked her head to the side. "I thought that you could only determine the gender after five months."

Clark gave a small chuckle. "It's a small argument I'm having with May; she's convinced that it's going to be a boy, but I know it's a girl based on intuition."

Noel giggled. "I guess that'll make the 18 week ultrasound a little more interesting."

"True," Clark admitted. "But I think we'll hold off on knowing until she gives birth. Everything has a date... speaking of which Christmas is only four days away, you have any plans?"

"Yes actually," Noel told him. "I'm planning on spending the entire day with someone who just came into town. It's pretty sudden, but I don't think he'd have any other plans."

"Oh, so little Miss Noel's found her special someone?" Clark said giving a small teasing grin.

"Oh please, who could flatness have found?" The two turned and saw that Jill and her two followers had rudely come up from behind. "Come on, she's only telling you that so she doesn't need to cry herself to sleep every night."

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Clark questioned. "I thought you'd have a report to file in to headquarters."

Jill gave a smug smile. "Yeah, well unlike you losers I was able to find out that Sector Seven was behind the attack. Yep, you looking at the next NOL major right now!"

Noel groaned as she grabbed her forehead in a headache. Jill was convinced that Sector Seven had some sort of takeover plan or was planning a military coup. This meant whenever a problem arose she'd always point the finger at either them or the Ikaruga federation.

"But enough about my soon-to-be promotion, tell me more about this imaginary boyfriend Noel."

Noel glared at Jill before taking a long sip and finishing her juice and putting the rest of her lunch in the brown sack, she'd eat the rest in her office. As she made her way away with Clark she heard Jill continue to throw insults at her.

"Don't let her get to you, Noel?" Clark said beside her smiling. "I'm sure that she's just jealous you might be able to put yourself in a lasting relationship."

"Thanks Clark," Noel said to her friend. "We should get back to work."

"More backbreaking labor... I'm looking forward to that Paternity leave. By the way, I know you said you had plans for Christmas, but do you think we could meet on the 24th? You can bring your friend if you want."

"I'll have to check with Ragna, but I don't see why not."

"Sounds good," Clark said as Noel walked into her office. After working at his desk for about ten minutes he realized something. ' _Wait, did she say RAGNA?'_

* * *

*Merchant District*

 _'Great, now I have an overview of the middle section in Kagutsuchi. That took longer than I thought it would, but maybe I can get the entire lower district and slums taken care of tomorrow.'_ To Ragna, planning his attacks on the NOL was an art, and a delicate one at that. By getting a precise layout of the town, he could come up with a way to infiltrate Kagutsuchi, make his way up to the branch, wipe out the cauldron, destroy the branch, and slip out without anyone else knowing he was even there.

' _Maybe I can head over to the branch now and check it out while Noel's working there,'_ he thought, right before his phone started ringing. _'Or not.'_ He groaned as he recognized the number. Ragna went into an empty alleyway and opened the phone, putting the device to his ear.

"What do you want Kokonoe?" he asked curtly.

The voice on the other end of the line laughed. "Is that any way to say hello to your big sis?"

"I haven't called you that in years!" Ragna defended. "Are you calling with an actual message or just to annoy me?"

"Just checking in," Kokonoe said casually. "I wanted to make sure you were still breathing _Mr. Never Calls Even Just to Say Hi."_

 _"_ Sorry, _mom,_ " Ragna shot back. "I've been busy lately with my work. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be working right now?"

"I finished early so I thought I'd try your phone since you never want to talk face to face _._ Aren't you going to put the video call up now?"

"No thanks," Ragna said rudely. "I'm kind of in the middle of something right now..."

"Planning out another attack? And here I thought we could at least see each other for Christmas..."

"If you want to waste a hundred platinum dollars for transport fare to Kagutsuchi, feel free."

"You're in Kagutsuchi? I thought you would stick around in Ikaruga. Two branches in only one month seems pretty balsey."

"I'm only here to make the plan; I don't want to attack this place until a friend of mine gets transferred out."

"You have a friend in the NOL?" Kokonoe asked speculatively. "Does he know what you're doing?"

"I have a two friends in there, they're both girls, and they don't know that I have another job." Ragna narrowed his eyes as he heard his adopted sister giggle. "What's so funny?"

"Two girls, huh? Never thought my little brother would be such a charmer!" Kokonoe said, trying hard not to laugh. "If only Hakumen could see you now!"

Ragna thanked god that he hadn't turned the video call on, his face was turning crimson at Kokonoe's accusation. "Hey! It's not like that at all! They're my friends, okay!?"

"If you say so," Kokonoe said before losing it. Ragna was forced to endure the Grimalkin laughing at him for two full minutes, at the same time he was becoming more and more tempted to crush the phone in his hand. After Kokonoe was done she caught her breath. "Ha... ha... Well, that's interesting and all, but have you heard from Hakumen recently? He usually tries to stop by close to Christmas, but I haven't seen him in months"

"I haven't seen my old master since the day he gave me my red coat. You've probably seen him more recently than I have..." Ragna was about to say something else when he heard a loud crashing sound from a nearby restaurant.

"SAY THAT AGAIN YOU SPINELESS PERVERT!" a feminine voice yelled from inside. Ragna thought he recognized the voice as his mercenary friend Bullet, but it couldn't be her, she was taking care of a string of bounties in Ibukido.

"THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME YOU HOT PANTS BITCH!?" a thug's voice sounded from inside.

 _So Bullet is here_ , Ragna thought to himself as he sighed. "Sorry Kokonoe, something just came up, I gotta go."

"Alright, just try to call me soon alright?" Kokonoe said in a rare soft tone. "You're the only family I have left. And make sure you come visit me again, I miss seeing you."

"I promise to visit you soon," Ragna assured. "Love ya big sis." ' _That wasn't too bad. She didn't even-'_

"Great! Next time we see each other we'll do another Sailor Moon marathon! See you."

'- _...Shit not again,'_ Ragna thought with a sigh has he made his way into the restaurant.

* * *

*Sector Seven*

Kokonoe gave a huge grin as she ended her call with Ragna.

"Kokonoe," Tager started. "You've completely watched the entire Sailor Moon series over a dozen times with Ragna now. Aren't you bored of it?"

"Eh, I got bored of it after the second time," Kokonoe admitted.

"So why-?"

"I love having him cringe when I say we're going to watch it again," Kokonoe said with an evil laugh.

' _No wonder Ragna never visits,'_ Tager thought to himself grimly. ' _His sister's a sadist. A sadist that I have to work for...'_

 **Author's** **Note: I don't own BlazBlue or Sailor Moon.**

 **Well, another chapter up for the story with the most dramatic changes. In case you have trouble keeping up,** **PM me and I'll get back to you.**

 **Return Comments:**

 **Blackace70: Sorry for stealing your idea, it just seemed original** **. Thanks for the weapon names though, I might have to use 'em.**

 **IdeaP** **erson1097: Overkill in regular BlazBlue, probably. Overkill here... wait till you see what Ragna's fighting. I'm not going to let him one shot everything.**

 **: Pairings are going to be a secret for right now, but you'll all have a really good idea after the next chapter.**

 **Guest: Thank you, I try hard to keep my idea's interesting.**

 **Anyways, thanks for the continued support for this fiction. Be sure to review and I'll see you next chapter.**

 **Ciao.**


	4. Competition

_Fate III: Competition_

Bullet walked into the _Ryuken's Dragon Restaurant._ The place had been in Kagutsuchi for two and a half generations, so it was relatively well known and already crowded with patrons. Bullet wasn't particularly hungry, but it was getting close to lunchtime and she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast early that morning. Her search for Ragna had come up with a few people claiming to have seen him, but that had been yesterday.

As the Mercenary walked inside the somewhat rundown restaurant she heard a high-pitched whistle directed her way. The table that it came from had several men sitting there, all of them with pipes and chains they all gave Bullet a dirty sneer and some suggestive looks.

' _Just another group of pervs in a second rate thug gang. Not even worth my time,'_ Bullet thought to herself as she sat down and waited for a waitress to come over and take her order. Unfortunately, she could hear the gang making comments in the background.

"She's got a nice set of leg's, don't she?" one thug commented.

"Yeah, decent sized top too!" another one said while eyeing Bullet's chest.

 _'I'm calm, I'm ignoring it, I'm in control, I'm-'_ Bullet thought to herself.

"What I'm really wondering," the largest one, probably the leader, started, "Is how much she charges you to get under that stripper outfit."

The next instant the gang leader was creamed in the, well, everything by a flying chair. "SAY THAT AGAIN YOU SPINELESS PERVERT!" Bullet yelled.

The leader turned out to be a durable man and crushed the chair before getting out of the wreckage. "THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME YOU HOT PANTS BITCH!?" he shouted as he took out a metal chain. The two thugs he was with took out their metal pipes.

"NO!" the waitress said running to stop the man. "Please… don't start a fight. This place is already-!"

She gave a small shriek of pain as the leader backhanded her in the face and set her sprawling to the floor. "This ain't your concern bitch! We'll wreck this place as much as we want!" he commanded at the waitress. "Hope you said your prayers you cu-!"

With that the man reeled back the chain and whipped it forward to strike Bullet. The Mercenary was prepared to go on the offensive and finish this quickly… but she was surprised when the end of the chain merely smacked the man's wrist.

"Uh! What the-!?" the man shouted before he looked at what he was holding. The four meters long chain he'd been carrying earlier had been reduced to what he held in the palm of his hand. Looking around he saw that his two partners were giving each other worried glances; their metal pipe gone from their hands.

"Are you alright?" a voice said. The thug leader turned and saw a man wearing a red coat with spikey white hair helping the waitress that had been slapped earlier up. Right behind the man laid a collection of torn chain links and several shattered pipe pieces.

"I'll be fine," the waitress said to her rescuer. "Thank you…"

"No problem."

"Hey buddy," the thug leader said… okay from now on I'm calling him Thug 1 and his minions are Thug 2 and Thug 3. Anyways, Thug 1 continued, "I'M the one with the problem here. You the bastard that done broke our weapons?"

"You called those things weapons?" the man asked rising, his back still turned. Thug 1 was too pissed to notice the assortment of weapons the newcomer carried.

"Yeah, and ya better compensate us! Or do ya like pain!?" Thug 2 shouted.

"What're you gonna do!? You gonna pay us or are ya gonna die!?" Thug 3 asked mockingly before cracking his knuckles.

"Tell you what I'm going to do… I'll make a prediction, then I'll turn around," the man said. "My prediction is that after I turn around, you three are going to run out of here as fast as you can. But you're also going to leave every cent you have on the table for payment for the trouble you caused."

"The hell are you-!?" Thug 1 started, but he was interrupted when the man put his right hand out and pointed right at him.

"I wasn't finished yet," the man in red said, his back still facing the thugs. "After you leave, you're going to turn yourselves in to the first NOL cop you guys come across. The charges being vandalism, assault, and disrupting the peace. Make sure you don't forget any of those. Okay?"

"Please," Thug 1 said. "Why the hell would we listen to you?"

* * *

*Outside*

Henry was walking down the street in the merchant district minding his own business. He'd been working as a street cop here for over a decade; he knew the people well and was on good terms with everyone. Well, almost everyone; there was a new group of thugs that had come in just the other day. They were trouble makers, but he could tell they were tough. He'd sent out a public warning about these three and he hadn't really seen them since that'd happened.

 _'There's Ryuken Dragon,'_ Henry thought to himself. _'I wonder if Mika's encountered those three. I certainly hope not. That girls been through too much without those three making her life worse.'_

Suddenly from inside he heard three fright filled screams as three thugs he was just thinking about rushed outside. The leather from inside their pockets were sticking out as if they had emptied everything as fast as humanly possible. Once they saw Henry, they ran to him and immediately got in the fetal position.

"We're sorry!" Thug 1 cried out. "We're guilty of disrupting the peace!"

"And vandalism!" Thug 2 wept.

"Don't forget assault!" Thug 3 moaned.

Henry honestly had no idea what was going on. He shrugged; they admitted themselves, might as well arrest them. Still, what the hell could scare three grown men into turning themselves in? He smelt a foul odor in the air, causing him to hold his nose. AND they wet their pants!?

* * *

*Back inside*

"Guess my prediction was right," Ragna said simply before he grinned. "Maybe I'm psychic."

Mika the waitress on the other hand was gapping at what she'd just witnessed. She then turned her attention to the table the thugs had been sitting at. The table was covered in platinum dollars, stolen golds chains, and other goods that the thugs had on them. She then heard applause and saw that Ragna the Bloodedge had taken his bow.

"Thank you, thank you! You're all too kind! Want another show, look me up; I'll be in town all week!"

Though there was still some applause, Ragna grinned to himself as he left the restaurant. That'd been the most fun he'd had in quite a while. He turned and walked into the abandoned alleyway he was in before when he was talking to Kokonoe on his mobile, and leaned against the walk. He didn't have to wait long.

"So you were waiting for me," Bullet said smirking as she regarded the Reaper. "Thought you were about to leave before even saying hello."

"And leave my best friend out to dry?" Ragna returned with his own grin as he spread his arms out wide. "C'mon Bullet, you know me better than that."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Bullet said before embracing her old friend. Ragna returned the hug and the two embraced for a moment. "It's so good to see you again, Ragna. One thing though…" she said before flicking the Reapers forehead.

"Ow!" Ragna exclaimed as he held the spot. "What was that for?"

"For starters, not telling me about Hakumen."

Ragna narrowed his eyes. That hadn't been what he was expecting to hear. "What did he tell you?"

"To keep an eye on you," Bullet answered.

"That doesn't sound like him," Ragna said shaking his head.

"Well deal with it, because now I'm sticking with you."

Ragna groaned. "Fine, but listen, I'm staying with this friend of mine. Try not to inconvenience her, okay."

"Fine… so how about we grab lunch?"

"Sure, I'll treat."

* * *

*NOL Base*

Noel hadn't been able to make much progress on the case for the NOL's unknown threat, but she had managed to rule out several factions and submit supporting evidence. For the heck of it she decided to look into the possibility of Sector Seven committing the attack. Her word against Jill's, should take an interesting turn. She glanced at the clock, only 1:30.

"Officer Vermillion," she heard from outside. She recognized the voice as Harsk, the branch commander.

"Oh, come in sir," Noel said formally.

Harsk entered the room looking a bit surprised. He was an elderly man with faded black hair who lost his right eye in the Ikaruga civil war and had a few scars to go along with it. Despite his wound he was friendly enough. Anyone who respected everyone at the branch he respected in turn… except Jill, he didn't exactly care for her, she tried to give him a little TOO much respect.

"I've got to say, I'm liking the new confident Noel Vermillion. What caused the new change if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well, I wanted to prove myself to someone. So I'm trying to start by being more confident at work."

"Huh, really? Well I won't pry. Anyways, just wanted to let you know that a friend of yours is here to see you in the lobby. She seems pretty eager to see you."

 _'She?'_ Noel thought, realizing it couldn't be Ragna. "All right, I can take my break now and-"

"Sorry to interrupt you," Harsk started. "But I think you've put in more than enough hours this week for some off time. After all, you managed to examine over 20 organizations that couldn't be behind the attack. I'd say that more than warrants some time off."

"Are you sure?" Noel asked.

"Well you've got a friend of yours in town, so why not? I'll see you back here after New Year's."

"Yes Sir!" Noel said standing from her desk and saluting, before realizing something. "Actually, could you give my time off to Clark? I have the feeling he needs it more than I do." She knew that she could use this time to see Ragna and her other friend, but Clark deserved to be with his girlfriend, especially now.

"You mean because of Mia and their soon-to-be kid?" Harsk said. "Don't worry, I already gave him some time off as well, but you always think of others, don't you kid?"

"Sir!" Noel said saluting again.

"At ease, Officer," Harsk said chuckling as he turned to leave. "Merry Christmas, oh and happy birthday."

"Thank you sir," Noel said before packing up her stuff.

When she entered the lobby she was immediately tackled by a blur of brown. "Hey Noellie!"

"M-Makoto!?" Noel said completely surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a couple of days to take off before the end of the year, so I thought I'd visit you for Christmas."

"Are you sure?" Noel asked surprised. "What about your family?"

"Already saw 'em," Makoto said happily. "I visited with them for a few days, but we all agreed that you need someone to keep you company on Christmas."

"So you'll be here too," Noel tried to say under her breath. That was AFTER she realized she was talking to a Beastkin, Makoto still had enhanced hearing. "U-uh I mean-!"

Makoto smiled as she put her arm around Noel and guided her out of the branch. She kept that ever so sweet smile on her face, even while uttering two words that some people could find fatal. " _Spill_. _Now._ "

Noel gulped audibly. "Well, I actually have some company with me right now," she said as the two exited the branch.

"You're stalling," Makoto said playfully. Makoto might as well have been Noel's personal interrogator; she knew where Noel was super ticklish when she wanted answers. "So who is it?"

"Well, it's Ragna…" Noel said nervously.

Makoto dropped her arm around Noel and looked at her close friend in shock. The Beastkin hadn't been expecting that one, not at all. "Well… huh… wow…"

Noel looked at her friend, concerned. "Are you alright Makoto?"

"I-I think so, but can we sit down for a second?" Noel nodded as the two sat down on a park bench. "So… how did that happen?"

"Well, I offered after he took me out to dinner. He's staying in town for the next week, so I thought this could be a good chance to see each other."

Makoto nodded while paying attention. "So are you two, you know, dating?"

Noel shook her head. "No, but I was going to confess how I felt to him. He's just always been there for us since we met. Ever since our first mission together he's been looking out for us. Not to mention he's been helping me with my self-confidence issue."

"Yeah? Well… cool."

Noel grabbed her friends hand comfortingly. "What's wrong Makoto?"

"Noel, It's just… I… I have a crush on Ragna too…" Makoto shook her head to correct herself. "No, it's more than just a crush. I mean you seen the way he sees me. I'm his friend, not a freak of nature, not some guns blazing girl, he sees me as a great friend… And he's always been there for me too. He's stood up for me in public on several occasions and… he once called me beautiful."

Noel nodded. "Tell you what, we'll make this fair for each other. Ragna gets to choose who he wants to be with. Neither of us will interfere with other, and we'll still be friends by the end of this. Deal?"

"Deal," Makoto said with a smile as she shook her friend's hand. "Guess I'll have to step it up though, you already have a head start on me."

"Yeah, well Ragna said he'd be looking around town today, so how about we make something for dinner as a surprise?"

Makoto tail became frazzled as it sensed the incoming danger. "Noel…"

Noel looked at her friend. "Oh, maybe I can try remaking that curry from the Academy. Everyone was thanking me for that after they had it."

"Y-yeah," Makoto said sighing to herself. _'What Noel doesn't know is that all of those people got to skip the final exam due to stomach cramps. That's why they were thanking her.'_

 **Authors Note: I don't own BlazBlue.**

 **IdeaPerson1097: Magical Girl Kokonoe is something I came up with on the fly, but I still like the end result. Truth is, she got tired with that series a LONG time ago, but she uses torturing Ragna with it as an excuse to spend time with her little brother.**

 **General Ironox: Wasn't really too sure about Ragna x Platinum, but if enough people like the way I show the new Platinum, I may consider it.**

 **LG: You know who you are, for some reason your name never shows. Anyways, thanks for the support.**

 **BlackLace70: Cool, and I promise to stop stealing your ideas *laughs*. But you've been giving me a lot of support, so thanks for that. As far as your idea for Platinum… I'll think on it, sounds interesting.**

 **Another tie in chapter, but I think this one had some good elements to it. Next chapters going to be pretty chaotic, just a fair warning. Rate, Review, and I'll see you next chapter.**

 **Ciao.**


	5. Agreement

_Fate IV: Agreement_

Ragna and Bullet made their way around Kagutsuchi. The two had enjoyed lunch a couple of hours before hand and the two were now walking around the upper district of the Hierarchal city.

"So where are we going exactly?" Bullet asked her friend.

"We're heading to the NOL branch. Noel should be getting off of work at around this time, so I was thinking we could walk home with her, maybe introduce you two to each other."

"I see…" Bullet said to herself a bit unsure. "How did the two of you meet?"

"Let's see, it was about a year after we met. We'd been assigned to work together for one of my bounty hunting jobs with a friend of hers named Makoto. The three of us got pretty close during our jobs we've had over the years. They're good women, at little scatterbrained, but good."

"So… are you dating either of them?" Bullet asked, again unsure.

Now normally Ragna would be swearing 'hell no!' and going into a frenzy to prove he wasn't dating them, but keep in mind this is his best friend we're talking about and this isn't the first time she's asked this question.

"No we're not, we're just good friends," Ragna said calmly and surely.

"Good," Bullet said under her breath.

"Sorry?" Ragna asked, he hadn't heard her properly.

"I-It's nothing," Bullet asserted, somewhat nervously.

"If you say so," Ragna said shrugging. "But I've said it before and I'll say it again. You got any problems you want to talk about, I'm always available to listen."

"I'm fine," Bullet assured him. "But thanks for the offer." She may have been one of the greatest mercenaries, but that didn't mean that she was absolutely sure about confessing her feelings to Ragna. She'd wanted to save him to prove to him that she'd gotten stronger… but that was only half of the story.

Just then the two arrived at the NOL branch. The two stepped inside and saw that the lobby was relatively empty, save for the receptionist at the front desk. The two walked over. "Excuse me," Ragna said.

The receptionist looked up and asked, "Yes, can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Noel Vermillion. Could you tell me where her office is?"

"It's down that hallway, but Noel Vermillion has already left for the day. Apparently she's gotten the rest of the year off from her superior."

"I see…" Ragna said nodding. "Well thanks for letting me know, c'mon Bullet."

*Time Skip*

 _Noel's Apartment_

"Alright, so Noel doesn't really know that you're coming over, so try to let me explain everything. I'll take the fall for this one."

"If you say so," Bullet said as Ragna opened the door with the key Noel had given him.

He had only taken a single step inside when he was covered completely by a complete shadow. He noticed the shadow had come from a form above him that was about to perform an aerial tackle on him.

"…noel?" he asked meekly.

" **SQUIRREL POWER!** " Makoto shouted as she plowed right into Ragna. The two fell to the ground and rolled on the hallway for a moment. When the movement finally stopped, Ragna was lying flat on his back with a Makoto wearing the apron he'd been wearing earlier kneeling on his chest, pinning him down. "You miss me?"

"Not if you keep giving me a fricking heart attack every time!" Ragna shouted as he moved the Beastkin off him. "Seriously though, what are you doing here Makoto?"

"Visiting Noel for Christmas of course!" Makoto said cheerfully before noticing the other woman. "Who's she?"

"Oh, Makoto this is Bullet, an old friend of mine. Bullet, Makoto."

"Nice to meet you," Bullet said holding her hand out for Makoto to shake. The squirrel Beastkin hesitated for a moment, but accepted the hand shake.

"Likewise," she said, though a little reserved.

"So where's Noel?" Ragna asked. "I heard she got the week off, isn't she back yet?"

"Oh, yeah we're making dinner for everyone! She's still in the kitchen."

Ragna's eyes grew wide, and I'm talking about plate sized. "You left Noel… in the kitchen… COOKING!?"

"Come on," Makoto said laughing. "We're making curry together. What could go wrongOH MY GOD! NOEL DON"T DO ANYTHING WITHOUT ME!"

As Makoto rushed back to the kitchen to stop Noel from causing a threat that would very well result in global annihilation (I am NOT exaggerating), Bullet turned her head to regard Ragna. "Is she always so… high-strung?"

"You've never had Noel's cooking," Ragna muttered to her. "Let's just head inside."

As the two made their way to the kitchen, Makoto was trying to stop Noel from adding chocolate to the curry (10 points if you get the reference), Ragna and Bullet made their way inside.

"Oh Ragna, you're back! Huh? Who's this?" Noel asked, she was wearing one of her Sailor moon aprons.

"This is Bullet, she's an old friend of mine and is going to be staying in town for a few days. Bullet, Noel."

The two girls shook hands, but Noel was analyzing Bullet, trying to see if she could tell how far her relationship with Ragna went. _'I could always ask her, but I don't want to do that with Ragna here.'_ "Well it's nice to meet you Bullet, and you're welcome to join the three of us for dinner. A friend of Ragna is a friend of ours."

"Thanks," Bullet said simply. "If there's anything I can help with just let me know."

Noel thought to herself. "Well…" Noel thought to herself for a moment. "Now that I think about it this is a reunion for all of us. If someone could go out and grab some champagne or maybe some red wine?"

"Didn't think you drank," Ragna commented.

"Not usually, but this is a special occasion for everyone."

"I guess it is," Ragna agreed. "Tell you what, I'll go out and grab something to go with dinner and you three can get to know each other."

"Works for me," Bullet said simply again. Her object may have been to keep an eye on Ragna, but this was going to be for less than an hour, Ragna could take care of himself.

Noel and Makoto nodded in agreement.

"Great, I'll be back soon," Ragna said as he headed out once more leaving the three of them there.

"So…" Noel started. "Bullet, how exactly do you know Ragna?"

"We've been friends ever since we went on a bounty hunting job back when we first met. In the bounty hunting world the two of us are sort of rivals."

"Looks like you've got your work cut out for you then," Makoto said as she stirred the curry (trying to keep Noel away from it at all costs). "But be straight with us Bullet, what's your relationship with Ragna?"

"Makoto!" Noel exclaimed, the Beastkin merely shrugged.

"What? You wanted to ask her anyways didn't you? So c'mon Bullet, what's going on between you two?"

"Nothing," Bullet said reservedly. "What does it matter to you two so much anyways? You're acting like we're fighting to get Ragna's attention… No… Don't tell me…"

Noel blushed. "Makoto and I have gotten into an agreement. Ragna gets to choose who he wants to be with in the end, and no one interferes with one another."

"So you all have a thing for Ragna then," Bullet said before sighing. "Why on earth is everyone attracted to him?"

Makoto shook her head. "I don't know, maybe it's because he's a nice person to all of us, he's will to stand up to anyone who's overstepping it… and he's just a caring person when you get to know him. Are you saying that you don't care about him?"

Bullet sighed to herself. "No, and I can see what you're saying. He means a lot to me as well… and I honestly can't imagine myself with anyone else."

Noel giggled. "Well I guess we have a third person to include in this agreement. Let's all do our best and be friends by the end of this, agreed?"

Bullet smiled and nodded. "I guess so, now how about dinner?"

"Should be ready in a little bit," Makoto said. "I hope Ragna's is going to be alright with grabbing the wine."

*Meanwhile*

Ragna thanked the clerk as he took the bottle of red wine he purchased. It was a pretty expensive brand, but he knew it would go well with dinner, and it wasn't like he was short on the money he made from bounty hunting. As he made his way from the Wine store, his thoughts (damn them) started to get the better of him again.

 _'Heh, now I feel like I'm acting like some sort of errand running husband… Not that it could ever happen to me. I'm a Reaper, on the path of death and vengeance. I'm not going to build a family just to see it destroyed by my own rebellion. Why the hell am I even think this? Curse you and your thought provoking comments Kokonoe! All right, that's it! Next time I talk to her, I try to discuss HER love life and see how she likes it. Yeah a good call on Christmas and… oh shit, what am I going to get everyone for Christmas!?'_

Ragna had never really had to face this problem in his past. As a kid he once tried to do a sort of Christmas thing with his teacher… it hadn't gone that bad, but that's a story for another time.

 _'I'll just have to come up with something for each of them. Come on how hard could it be?'_

 ** _Side Quest Obtained_** : Operation Christmas *Description: Find something for each of the would-be love interests of Ragna the Bloodedge. Finding the proper gift will boost affinity with the representative while getting a rushed or unthoughtful gift will decrease their affinity.

Ragna looked at what the story summary had just said. "Seriously? You're putting me in a Japanese RPG? What gives?"

Okay, first off I gave you a sweet set of katanas and guns for this story, so try to show some gratitude. Ragna continued to glare. Second, how the hell are you breaking the fourth wall?

"No clue. Hey, am I getting overtime for this? Also, can I still break the fourth wall?"

No dice.

"Dammit! Wait, on which one?"

*Time Skip*

 _Noel's Apartment_

' _Well that shopping trip was pretty uneventful,_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Well, aside from that effed up vision that I had, but that's about it… What was it about again?'_

"I'm back," Ragna said as he walked inside. In another split second he was again cover in a shadow.

" **SQUIRREL P-!** " Makoto was interrupted this time due to the quick thinking of Ragna who managed to catch her and held her back from tackling him and ruining the win. "-ower… Uh, heh?"

"You really need to come up with a new way to say hello, you know that?"

"Yeah… but enough about that. Dinner's ready, you got the wine right?"

"Right here, c'mon let's go eat."

As the four sat at the table and started to dish out the rice and curry everyone started to say what they'd been up to.

"I visited the sixth Hierarchal city a while back," Makoto started. "It was a pretty nice area to explore, but I wish that my boss hadn't been a complete racist."

"That's why I hate working under people," Bullet said. "It's too hard to find a good employer. When I was taking care of my last string of bounties I had this employer who always tried to put moves on me. It was annoying after the first time, and he didn't get the message."

Ragna cringed, he saw where this was going. "Don't tell me you-"

"Hit him in the groin with a haymaker? Ragna you know me too well."

The Reaper sighed. "That's what I thought," he said as Makoto and Bullet fist bumped. "What about you Noel?"

Noel gave an unfitting evil smile. "Well same old same old with me, except for this morning. When I woke up and found you wearing my "Cookin' AND Good Lookin'" Apron. Quite the sight to see."

Makoto was howling with laughter while Bullet's wine came out of her nose. Ragna meanwhile felt his face turn a deep crimson.

 _'Damn it, why did she have to bring that one up? I'm always the fall guy with these things.'_ After seeing the happy looks on everyone's faces as they pressed Noel for more details Ragna allowed himself a small chuckle. _'I guess that's not always a bad thing. As long as everyone's happy.'_

 **Author's Note** : **Don't own BlazBlue or Sailor moon.**

 **Well, it's an official harem fiction now. The plot from earlier is still going to take place, but now Ragna has to save Christmas… in his own special way.**

 **Coming up, I'll probably have a chapter dedicated to Ragna spending time with each of the ladies. Aside from Noel who'll go last, the person that receives to most idea's for a date will go first, so send me any ideas via PM or (if you're not a member) by review. See you next chapter.**

 **Ciao.**


	6. Bonding I

_Fate V: Bonding I_

As it turned out, everyone ended up staying the night at Noel's place last night. Noel slept in her own bed, Makoto took the spare bed that Ragna had slept on the night before, Bullet took the couch in the living room, and Ragna took his place on the floor with a blanket.

The three girls all woke up around close to 8:30, and noticed that Ragna had left his coat on the dining room chair and a note on the table saying that he was going out for a morning jog and wouldn't be back until close to 9. While the letter seemed straightforward to them, and it wasn't a lie since he technically was jogging, the main reason Ragna was doing wasn't for the exercise, but to attempt to complete his layout of Kagutsuchi.

"I guess we'll make breakfast when Ragna gets back," Noel said. "By the way, I wanted to talk to all of you about these next few days."

"What about them?" Bullet asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"It's about the agreement we made last night. We said that we'd let Ragna choose, that we'd be friends by the end of this, and that we wouldn't interfere with one another. I can really only see this working one way, and that's if we decided to divide our time up with Ragna and spend an equal time alone with him."

"I guess that makes sense," Makoto agreed. "Let's see today's the 22nd of December, so that leaves 3 days left until Christmas including today. I guess that means we should each get a day with Ragna, and then spend Christmas with all of us. Now the question in what order do we do our separate dates?"

"I have something that I wanted to see if Ragna was interested on going to on Christmas Eve, so I'd like to take either that or the middle day if he's not interested," Noel requested.

"Fine with me," Bullet said. "That just leaves who wants to hang out with Ragna today."

"Is it alright if I spend today with him?" Makoto asked. "You guys already spent some time with him, so I think it's only fair that I get my turn to spend time with Ragna first."

Noel and Bullet thought about it for a moment, but in the end they agreed with the Squirrel Beastkin. "Alright," Bullet agreed. "But you should know this means that you don't have much time to plan the day out."

"Don't worry," Makoto said with a grin. "I already know what we're going to do."

""Then it's decided," Noel said with a grin. "I'll just have to ask Ragna when he gets back."

Around 15 minutes later Ragna returned from his run, sweaty and breathing heavily… but give the guy a break, he'd literally just run up and down a mountain. Plus, the girls weren't exactly against a hot and sweaty Ragna. After helping the girls whip up some waffles for breakfast, the four sat down at the table.

"Did I miss anything?" Ragna asked before biting into one of his waffles. Sadly, Noel couldn't find the syrup bottle, so he had to settle for having butter on them."

"Just making plans," Noel said truthfully. "I was thinking about showing Bullet around town today, so maybe you could go out and do something with Makoto?"

"No problems from me," Ragna said. "What are you in the mood for Makoto?"

"You'll see!" Makoto said with a playful wink.

"Leaving me in the dark, huh? Well that's fine I guess," Ragna said to himself. "Any plan's for Christmas?"

"None so far," Noel said. "But my friend had invited me to visit him and his girlfriend on Christmas Eve and I wanted to know if you were interested in coming. They seemed interested in meeting you."

"Sounds fine to me, I'll just have to find something better to wear," Ragna said as he chowed down the last of his waffle. "Dibs on the first shower!"

"Hey!" Makoto exclaimed at him. "Whatever happened to ladies first?"

"Snooze you lose!" Ragna said as proceeded to walk into the bathroom. When closed the bathroom door Makoto struggled not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Bullet asked her eyes narrowed. Makoto motioned for her to be quiet. "What did you do?"

"Just wait," Makoto said.

It was then that the water turned on. While he was in the shower, Ragna was singing the lyrics of ' _Boulevard of Broken Dreams_ ' (written by Green Day)… just picture that for a moment. Anyways, Ragna actually had pretty decent singing voice, despite his gruff attitude and personality.

"Is that what we were supposed to laugh at?" Bullet asked after listening to the first verse. "It's not like he's embarrassing himself; I sing in the shower myself."

"Just wait for it," Makoto said, holding her hand over her mouth.

" _My shadow's the only one that walks beside me, my shadow heart's the only thi-!"_ *SPLURRRRRRRT* "WHAT THE HELL! WHY IS THERE SYRUP IN-?! **MAKOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!** "

At this the Beastkin fell out of her chair in uncontrolled laughter, Noel had no choice but to join in the laughter herself and Bullet just stared at the door with a blank expression on her face. Then the water was shut off and Ragna almost broke the bathroom door with the force he opened it with.

Ragna marched over, shirtless, with one of Noel's towels (the baby blue one) hastily wrapped around his waist, dripping wet, with brown goo all over his head, the syrup bottle in one hand, and a VERY pissed expression.

"Tell me Makoto," Ragna demanded testily. "When you woke up this morning WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS INSPIRED THIS!?"

"Aw, c'mon," Makoto said to Ragna, giving her the grin that always seemed to get her out of this sort of trouble. "Early bird get the worm, second mouse and all that. Can't you laugh with it?"

"Oh, I can laugh with it all right," Ragna said, this time he wasn't about to drop the prank. He tore the cap off the syrup bottle and dumped the remaining contents all over the Beastkin. Makoto gave a shrike as she was covered in the sticky goo. "There, NOW I'm laughing!" Ragna grumbled as he made his way back into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Now it was Makoto's turn to be laughed by Noel and Bullet. The Squirrel gave a pathetic whimper as she tried to pick out a chunk of syrup out of her tail. Sadly, it didn't budge but it hurt a ton. Meanwhile, Ragna had begun to shower again.

"What do you have to say for yourself now?" Bullet asked with a smirk on her face.

Makoto glared at the two who were laughing at her expense while Ragna went back to singing in the shower. "Dibs on the next turn in the shower," she grumbled to her friends.

* * *

*One Hour Later- Kagutsuchi Streets*

After Makoto finally managed to get all of the syrup out of her hair and fur (even with the shampoo, it hadn't been easy) she and Ragna made their way down Kagutsuchi. Ragna was dressed in his regular clothing and carried all of his weaponry, it didn't seem like he'd need them, but it never hurt to be sure. Makoto wore dark jeans and an orange and white striped tank top, she also carried her metal tonfas on her belt.

"So where are we heading?" Ragna asked.

"Just to the park," Makoto told him. "I thought we'd go on a bike ride around the park, just enjoy the scenery and get some exercise at the same time. Then we'd grab some lunch after that and figure out what else to do."

"Sounds good to me," Ragna said. ' _This could also be a good chance to learn a little bit about the city and get some info.'_ "Is there a place in the park to rent bikes, or do we have to buy one from the market?"

"There should be one at the park," Makoto told him. "Come on, let's go! Day's a wasting!"

"Say's the person who spent a good half hour in the shower," Ragna remarked.

"Your fault for dumping syrup on me!" Makoto challenged him.

"You started it," Ragna chuckled. "Plus, you smell nice like this." He didn't notice that his last comment had caused Makoto to blush slightly.

* * *

*Meanwhile- Kagutsuchi's _Rosewind Café_ *

"Nice place," Bullet said as she and Noel sat down at a table outside. The place was somewhat formal in design, but they had a fair dress code and prices were fair. It was usually a very busy place, but Noel and Bullet had gotten lucky and the place was only slightly packed.

"I like to come here often," Noel said with a small smile as they waited for their tea. "You also said that you had something to talk about."

"It's about Ragna," Bullet started. "Specifically the secret he's been keeping, from all of us no less."

"Secret?" Noel asked doubtfully. "Ragna isn't the type of person to keep secrets."

"I know," Bullet admitted. "He's always been terrible at keeping them, even when it was as simple as him stealing my desert when we were younger, he'd always give himself away so easily. But at the same time, we've never really asked about his past."

That wasn't completely true for Noel, she'd asked Ragna about his past a long time ago. Back then he'd said he wasn't ready to talk about it with anyone. She and Makoto had assumed that it had something to do with how he lost his arm and got his BlazBlue, and decided not to question hum further on the matter. Ragna had never really talked about his past after that, but at the same time Noel and Makoto weren't really asking.

"What do you know then?" she decided to ask diplomatically.

"I just learned this recently, after talking with the person himself. Apparently Ragna was trained by one of the six heroes… the strongest hero."

"You mean Hakumen?" Noel asked. While Ragna's power and skill were on an almost impossible level, for him to be trained by a man who was said to have vanished from the world almost a century ago? It was impossible. "I just can't see it," Noel admitted. "It's just outrageous!"

"I can understand that you're skeptic, but I actually met Hakumen. Just before coming to this city."

"What did he want?" Noel questioned.

"He wanted me to make sure Ragna, his apprentice, was alive by the end of this. I don't know what any of this means, but he implied that it has something to do with the NOL."

"The NOL?" Noel repeated, more to herself than Bullet. Wait… the attacks on the NOL… "No… It can't be… you don't think?"

"I can't say for certain," Bullet admitted. "But this isn't really the best place to be throwing around these kinds of theories. Regardless, what would you do?"

Noel was silent as she thought to herself. "I'd still trust Ragna. He's always been there for us in the past, he knows what he's doing. And I'm going to be there when he needs me."

"Right," Bullet agreed as their drinks arrived. She took a sip of her coffee. "That's a good cup of coffee. And normally I can't stand the stuff."

"Ranga's never made coffee?"

"He has it's just… I think last time he tried to make a cup for us he did something wrong. I couldn't sleep for a week after only having one sip. Imagine what a cup would've done."

* * *

*Meanwhile-Kagutsuchi Park*

As it turned out, Makoto had been right in saying that there was a place to rent bikes in the park. After renting the bike and some other gear, Ragna took it outside. Bikes were pretty popular that day, so the only type they had left where the double bikes that sits two people.

Makoto finished putting her helmet on and sat on the front seat. "All right, ready to go!" she said with enthusiasm.

"Like hell," Ragna said. "If we're going to do this I'm steering."

"What, you don't trust me?" Makoto demanded. Ragna pointed to his hair. "Fine, pull one stupid prank and I hear about it for the rest of the day."

"If it was a stupid prank then you shouldn't have pulled it," Ragna said as he took his rightful seat up front. "Let's get going."

The two made their way around the park. The biking area wasn't large, but it was certainly a scenic route. Not too hilly, and a lot to look out on the way. They passed by several other bikers on the way, all of which seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"How's work been?" Makoto decided to bring up as they rode along the park.

"Pretty decent. I managed to take down another syndicate, but they honestly weren't that strong to begin with. More of a pain in my ass if nothing else."

"What type of syndicate?" Makoto asked.

"A slave trade," Ragna said through gritted teeth. "They'd been capturing refugees from the Ikaruga war and selling them on the black market. Job was pretty standard, but I did meet an unusual guy while I was on the job. Called himself Bang Shi-something. Pretty loud, energetic, and always leapt before he looked. Heh, reminded me of you."

"If that all you can think when you see me?" Makoto asked, a little peeved but mostly disappointed.

"Of course not," Ragna assured her. "At the same time though, that's part of your charm."

Makoto blushed slightly at that last part. "I-I guess so. Anyways, you want to stop for lunch soon?"

"Sure thing, I'm starting to get hungry, what are you in the mood for?"

"How about-?"

"No French pastry shops."

"Dang it!"

* * *

*Meanwhile- the Forest outlying Kagutsuchi*

Hakumen swung his Okami again to destroy the animated missiles that Platinum had created. A soon as he had completed his slash, a giant mallet like object with a lion's head energy from the tree line and was about to come crashing downs on him. He blocked the attack off of his sword, but then he noticed that another round of missiles was about to strike him.

"Clever girl," he said to himself as he let the missiles strike him. Out of the tree line a girl with blond hair with pink ends came out of the woods, the look of satisfaction evident on her face. She was wearing a light skirt, had glasses on her face, and carried a heart shaped staff.

"How'd I do that time, master?" Platinum asked, a little giddy.

"A significant improvement," Hakumen assured his apprentice. "You seem to have gotten your timing and strategy down for your attacks."

"Heh, do you think I could beat HIM?" Platinum asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

' _It's times like this that I actually hate having to tell her the truth.'_ "Not just yet," Hakumen told her. "You've gotten stronger, but my first apprentice was on a different level when I last saw him, I can only estimate his improvement."

Platinum sighed for a moment, before asking, "Hey, Master Haku?"

"What is it?"

"I was… uh, wondering… what your first apprentice was like."

"I prefer not to talk about him," Hakumen said, hoping to drop the subject there.

"Was he that bad of an apprentice?" Platinum had to ask.

"No, he learned discipline and was respectful enough, I just prefer not to think of him."

"Master Hakumen, is he the revolutionary that you and Miss Rachel were talking about?"

"Yes, he's fighting the entire NOL on his own, but he's managed to do quite well. He actually should be in this city."

"And Terumi is going to show up in this city?" Hakumen merely nodded. "Then shouldn't we be there before he decides to arrive?"

"We will be there only when he arrives, not before. If he senses us anywhere inside the city, all of my planning will have been for nothing."

"Sounds like a tough job," Platinum admitted before stretching her body. "I'm going to go make some lunch. See you later master!"

Again, Hakumen only nodded. After Platinum had left, he sensed a familiar presence behind him.

"Harlequin," he said without emotion. "What brings you here?"

"Merely stopping to be sure that you haven't nearly killed your apprentice again. Lord knows how many times we had to heal Ragna after all of the times you nearly killed him."

"Hmph, you always were defensive about him."

"Are you implying something?" Rachel demanded, her red eyes narrow slits.

"Only stating the obvious," Hakumen said, containing himself from chuckling. "But rest assured, Platinum is fine, I haven't even raised my blade against her."

"So long as that is the case," Rachel said, mostly uninterested. "I assume you will be ready for when Terumi arrives?"

"If I had any doubt in my mind I would have come to you for help," Hakumen admitted. "I will not let my pride blind me like last time, be assured of that."

"I suppose we should all be thankful of that," Rachel said to him. "Take care, defeating Terumi is going to take all of us if we're to stand a chance." And with that the Vampire was gone.

* * *

*Kagutsuchi- The Park*

"What'd you want to come back here for?" Ragna asked as he made his way back to the park with Makoto. It was the middle of the afternoon now and the sun was beginning to set over the horizon.

"Just thought we'd go a round, for old times sake!" Makoto said cheerfully as she equipped her tonfas.

(Cue Makoto's Theme _Alexandrite II)_

"Heh," Ragna said smirking as he got into a ready stance. "I should've figured. All right then, DON'T EXPECT ME TO HOLD BACK!"

"KILL YA IF YOU DID!" Makoto yelled as she ran towards Ragna.

Due to Makoto's skill with quick attacks and her up and personal fighting style, Ragna elected to stick to fighting unarmed and give himself more speed. He blocked Makoto's jab to his chest with his forearm before stiffening his leg to block her leg sweep. He then returned the attack with a jab to her forearm, which she guarded against with her tonfa, before grabbing Makoto by the weapon and throwing her across the lawn.

The squirrel Beastkin quickly regained her footing, but that Ragna took the opportunity to laugh himself forward. " **Hell's Fang**!" he shouted just before he made contact with Makoto, before she vanished right in front of him. ' _So she's using her Asteroid Vision move, which means-"_ Ragna thought to him left before he reached behind his back and caught Makoto's fist. _'-she'd try to catch me off guard,'_ he thought to himself. _'I would've thought she'd try something-!_ ' "Pfft, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" he laughed uncontrollably.

He shoved Makoto back and attempted to regain his breath from laughing. "Seriously? That was your big idea, tickling me to death with your tail!?"

"Hey it worked didn't it?" Makoto said with a grin. "Thinking about calling the match?" After saying that, Makoto created a ball of energy in front of her. " **BREAK SHOT Lv.3**!"

She sent the orb towards Ragna at max speed, it didn't matter how tough Ragna was this one was going to hurt. That was, if Ragna didn't deflect it into the air with a single swipe of his hand. "Wasn't even considering it! I'm having too much fun here!" Ragna said with a cocky smile on his face.

Makoto grinned as she and Ragna rushed each other. They continued to fight, exchanging attacks and techniques with one another. This little sparring match of Makoto's ended up taking up the better part of an hour. There wasn't really a winner to the match, but the two certainly had fun with it.

(End theme)

"Phew!" Makoto exhaled as took off her tonfas. "Quite the work out you had going for me."

"Yeah," Ragna admitted, pretty tuckered out himself. "You certainly don't make it easy for me. But I guess I like things interesting. Speaking of which…"

Makoto realized what Ragna was doing far too late. The Grim Reaper had managed to snake his hands under Makoto's arms and tickled her armpits without mercy. For the next few minutes Makoto couldn't contain her laughter until Ragna decided to stop.

"D-Did you really have to do that?" Makoto asked gasping for air. Ragna gave her a grin.

"Well since I have to put up with your crazy stunts all the time, I think that's fair."

"Crazy stunts, huh?" Makoto said as she merely looked at the ground.

"What's wrong?" Ragna asked. That was before Makoto grabbed him by his Jacket collar and pressed her lips firmly into his.

She was hesitant and unsure at first, not knowing how Ragna would react, but that was before he wrapped his arms around her and returned the embrace. The two stayed there for a few minutes before letting go of each other.

"I guess that was another crazy stunt you had to put up with," Makoto said with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, well I didn't mind this one quite as much," Ragna told her grinning. "Come on, let's find some where to grab some dinner."

"Right with you," Makoto said smiling as she grabbed Ragna's hand with her own and proceeded to travel towards the Merchant district with him.

Even though Ragna had a happy expression on the outside, and was more than a little pleased on the inside, he could only think one thing.

" _Damn it Ragna, what the hell are you doing?"_

 **Authors Note: I don't own BlazBlue or the accompanying music.**

 **Not much to say about this chapter, hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time. If you have any ideas for the Bullet chapter, let me know.**

 **Ciao.**


	7. Bonding II

**_Authors Note: I don't own BlazBlue._**

 ** _Warning: This chapter contains dangerous amounts of fluff. If you are of the faint of heart, leave now. Otherwise I leave you to your fate of drowning in fluff for eternity… Enjoy and leave a review._**

 _Fate VI: Bonding II_

The girls woke up at 8 o'clock the next morning to find a note on the kitchen table much like the one that was there the morning before saying that Ragna would be back close to nine. The girls sat at the table, Makoto carrying a large grin on her face.

"I suppose it's obvious," Bullet commented, "but I take it the date with Ragna went well."

"You could say that," Makoto told her, not dropping her smile for second.

The two other females were worried for a second. Had Ragna gone and made Makoto his girlfriend? Was this just her way of rubbing it in to the two of them? Being Makoto's long-time friend Noel felt somewhat betrayed.

 _'She could at least tell us the truth!'_ Noel thought with her cheeks puffed in anger and her eyes in glare. "So you and Ragna are official? We can't continue our agreement? Is that it!?"

"What? No! It's not like that at all!" Makoto cried. "Yes my date went well with Ragna, but we're not actually a couple or anything! I remember the agreement, promise!"

Noel held her glare at the Beastkin for a moment before realizing she was being too harsh and dropped the glare and nodded. "Sorry about that Makoto. I didn't mean to snap like that."

"Well someone's defensive of Ragna," Bullet noted.

"Noeller's has always been like that, even back when we first met him. She's in love with the guy, but she acts like she's his little sister or something and Ragna even treats her like it."

"Huh," Bullet said. She was a little concerned when she noticed that Noel wasn't denying it. "Anyways, I'm up today right?"

"Yeah, any ideas what you're going to be doing?" Noel asked.

Bullet shook her head. "I looked over town all day so that I could something that both of us could enjoy, but I wasn't able to find anything. Do you girls have any ideas?"

"Well there's the area called Ronin-Gai which is supposed to be beautiful to go to," Noel advised. "I've never actual been there myself, but I heard great things about it from a few of my co-workers."

"I guess that's somewhere to start," Bullet said. "I'm going to take the first shower today, there'd better not be any syrup in there."

"There isn't," Makoto assured her. "Besides I only ever prank Ragna."

"Okay, you're in love with Ragna and you're trying to prank him and only him. Why?"

"Simple," Makoto said with a grin. "He has the best reactions."

"Fair enough," Bullet admitted. "Especially when he dumped syrup on you."

"HEY!"

*Meanwhile- Upper Levels of Kagutsuchi*

Ragna was running through the Noble's level of Kagutsuchi, both enjoying a jog and attempting to get the layout of the town. He was wearing a set of jogging clothes he'd gotten a long time ago and kept with him by use of Ars Magus storage (an Ars which allows you to store non-animate objects in a separate reality and call upon that object when it's needed). The outfit was simple enough, black sweatpants with a red hoodie and black sneakers. Ragna kept the hood on in order to keep people from seeing his hair and realizing his identity.

While the noble's district was a sight to behold for most with the enormous polished buildings and the artistic marble statues Ragna wasn't exactly impressed. He'd traveled most of the known world and had seen all kinds of things. Noble districts were hard for him to take seriously, they all focused too much on looking shiny and perfect, but it wasn't how real people actually lived. Real people were complicated with their own problems and ways of life. This way of life felt wrong, contained.

But enough about the architecture of the nobility. As Ragna ran through the area he came across a few people who decided to ignore him, they were mainly guards patrolling the area or other nobles taking care of their daily tasks. As he passed by one of the mansions he noticed something strange with the garden. The flower beds closest to the entrance held several white lilies all of them grown to perfection, but in the center of all of them was in single red rose. To a normal person it'd look like either an error or an interesting design, but Ragna was able to recognize the importance of the simple rose.

 _'Shit, not this again,'_ he thought to himself glumly. _'Let's get it over with.'_ Ragna headed into a less traveled area in between two of the estates. The area was covered in the shadows of the two mansions, leaving very little sunlight into the area. It appeared he was the only one here, but appearances were deceiving.

"I had thought that perhaps you would have been too dense to realize my message. It seems you've managed to surprise me in your abilities to realize the most obvious of hints. Perhaps you are becoming less like a germ and more like an organism with an actual intellect, however small. A pity Nago and Gii aren't here to see this once in a lifetime miracle in person."

Ragna glared the woman inside the shadows. He didn't know what Rachel's problem with him was, but she'd often insulted him whenever she found the chance. He didn't hate her, Ragna knew that much, but her constant snide remarks often tempted him to think otherwise.

"Nice to see you too," Ragna scoffed. "So what does the _Princess of Roses_ want with a lowly Reaper?"

"Do you really keep insisting on calling me by ridiculous title you've made for me?" Rachel asked with a sigh. "I grow tired of your sarcastic attempts to impress me."

"What?" Ragna asked with a chuckle. "Would rather I call you… what was that name master had used, 'harlequin?' I could call you that or do you prefer 'rabbit?' That one's always fun."

"Your attempts at humor leave much to be desired Ragna," Rachel told him with a glare. Her narrowed red eyes would be enough to send most people cowering in fear, but Ragna hadn't been intimidated by this when he was a teenager, he wasn't intimidated now. "I had intended on coming to check on your progress, but it seems I should've waited until after you'd had you shower. I had thought it impossible for you to smell any worse, but you've actually managed to prove me wrong for once in your pathetic life. Quite the achievement."

"You seem pretty pissed today rabbit," Ragna commented. "And checking up on my progress? You've never done that before, why start now?"

"You're taking far too long to scout this cauldron. I'd thought you'd have wanted your revenge the first chance you gotten, not hoping to waste time with obnoxious woman in attempts for your perverted ideals of romance."

"First off, I think I can get a vacation after all of the work I've been doing lately. Second, those three are the least obnoxious people that I know. Third off, who's looking for romance? And most of all, stop stalking me! You're such a pain!"

"I beg your pardon!" Rachel demanded. "If you think I'm stalking you you're sorely mistaken. I just happened to overhear something about you and a Beastkin, what was the term? _'Making out in broad daylight,'_ was it? I swear Ragna, your morals have dropped even lower than I'd have thought."

"Hey! Leave Makoto out of this! I don't need you insulting her because of her race you little blood sucker!"

"Rest assured Ragna, the insult was directed entirely to you."

"That doesn't make me feel much better," Ragna admitted. "Hey rabbit, what's the deal with my master? I don't see him since the day I finished my training and now he's sending Bullet to keep tabs on me. What's really going on here?"

"I'm afraid I can't say anything more. It's not my business to what goes on in the minds of the Six Heroes. And even if it was I believe that's Hakumen's business not yours."

"You staying out of someone's business? I'm calling bull, you've always butted into everything I've ever done and that includes now. Sheesh you're such a Tsundere."

"I beg your pardon? I'm a what now?"

Ragna grinned smugly. "Sorry Rachel, I believe that's my business to know. Later… Princess." With that last snide remark the Grim Reaper took his leave and continued his jog.

Rachel stayed in the shadows, her face uncaring and void of emotion before the tiniest of smiles tugged at her lips. "Really Ragna, do you have to be such a complicated brute?"

*Two Hours Later: Ronin-Gai*

"So why'd you want to go here with me?" Ragna asked as he walked down the street with Bullet. The two were surrounded by Chinese architecture and other sights that were familiar in Ikaruga. Bullet and Ragna who were both well-traveled recognized these signs and continued to walk along the streets.

"I just heard about this area and was wondering if you wanted to check it out. There's nothing wrong with that is there?"

"I guess," Ragna admitted. "But what's bringing this on?" He was referring to Bullet hanging on two one of his arms with both of hers like she was some sort of clingy girlfriend.

"Protection… for both of us."

"Huh?" Ragna looked around and saw that there were many people eyeing them, some men some women. The looks they were getting from some of them seemed to imply jealousy and longing to possess on one of the two they were observing. "Fair enough."

In truth, Bullet was more than confident she could take on anyone who came their way (having Ragna with her guaranteed their chances of success) but the real reason she was doing this was her inexperience with dating. The mercenary had never been one to partake in the arcane practices of romance and relationships. Well, that wasn't completely true, she had made a couple of friends… okay a few friends… one friend…? All right screw it, she was able to make friends with Ragna and to some degree the other girls; that was the most social activity she's ever been able to do in her life.

It wasn't all bad, if Bullet had to have only one friend in the world, she was glad it was Ragna, a man who was always there for her and rolled with the punches that their friendship brought with a smile on his face and a hilarious attitude. At the same time though that left her with (supposedly) more pressure than the other girls. If the other girls lost this contest it'd be hard for them sure (she could tell they were crazy about Ragna, who wouldn't be?) but at the same they'd still be able to find a boyfriend without going through excruciating difficulty altering their life style and personality.

She'd seen what the other girls were like. They had personality, flair, culture, and looks. While Bullet knew she wasn't low in the looks departments by any means, she also knew that she had about as much personality as a third rate soap opera actor. On an side note, she had tried watching soap operas to try being more knowledge able for female social groups, but they were having a special on international martial arts on the next channel and she'd always wanted to study Muay Thai so she switched after the second time the characters had told each other of betrayal and made out… and only five minutes in.

In the end, she knew that she was the least likely out of the three to find a significant other if the contest didn't favor her, so it was time to bring her A game and start with some risky plays. Arm holding was a start and she certainly wasn't complaining, but she'd never seen a relationship forged because a man loved the way you held his arm. The mercenary noticed a perfume shop to the couples left. For a split second Bullet was considering it before she remember a bodyguard job that she'd taken with Ragna in the past and how he almost suffocated when he'd smelled how much perfume the girl was wearing.

Huh, maybe should could try playing on some of the things she noticed from Ragna from all of the jobs the two had taken together, that could work. She was so absorbed in trying to come up with a strategy that she almost didn't notice when the ground began to shake beneath her feat.

"YOUR LIFE OF PETTY THEFTS AND CRIME ENDS NOW, EVILDOER!" a gruff voice shouted from a block away.

"I know that voice," Ragna thought aloud, before he faced Bullet. "C'mon."

When they got the scene they noticed a small crater in the ground with a scrawny man in it that Ragna had recognized as a B rank dead or alive bounty. The man was clearly beat to a bloody pulp and had nowhere to run. Standing over the man was an Ikaruga ninja in green attire with a giant nail on his back. The man had an X shaped scar on his forehead and a five o' clock shadow, and overall appearance that could only be summarized as scruffy.

"Lloyd the Runner, you have been subdued by none other than I! Bang Shishigami, the champion of Justice and Love! I have allowed you to live so that you may come to regret your wrong doings and reconsider your terrible misdeeds which have-!"

"Hey Bang!" Ragna shouted with a grin plastered to his face. The Ninja in green stopped in his speech of justice to face the newcomer. His face broke into less serious smile when he notice the Reaper.

"Ah, Ragna the BloodEdge! To think I would see my rival in justice not two months after our heroic deeds against the slave cartel!" He then looked to Bullet. "And I see that you are also taking your lady friend on a grand tour of Ronin-Gai." This made Ragna and Bullet blush, however slightly. "I cannot think of a better way to bring two people together than experience the culture and beauty of my homeland!"

Bullet instantly had her answer of what to do to get close to Ragna: Everything Here! Ragna often told Bullet that one of the best parts of being a bounty hunter was traveling. This meant seeing unique sights, meeting interesting people, and experiencing the culture. This was the perfect place to do so.

"It's nice to meet you Bang," she said to the vigilante as she shook his hand. A group of Bangs subordinates were restraining the criminal. "My name's Bullet."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Bang told her. "I see that as of the moment you are currently busy at this moment, but perhaps you two would be able to join me at my residence later? I have something that I'm sure you'll be quite happy to see, Ragna."

"I guess?" Ragna shrugged.

"Very well, I will see you two this evening then." With that, Bang left with his men.

While the Reaper happy to have the chance to see one of his friends, Bullet had to contain her excitement to keep her from squealing like a school girl. This was perfect! She now had the perfect plan for what she wanted to do with Ragna: absolutely no plan at all! Well except for visiting Bang, but that could wait. For now it was sightseeing time!

"Hey Ragna! Let's try this place over here!" Bullet shouted as she grabbed Ragna's arm and proceeded to drag him by his arm towards an old art shop.

"Whoa! Bullet, what the heck's gotten into you? Hey slow down!"

For the next two hours the couple aimlessly wandered Ronin-Gai, not having any idea where they were going or any plan make beforehand. It took Ragna a few stops to see where this was going, but eventually he decided to join in the sporadic fun the two were deciding to embrace.

Starting off the two ventured into an old antique shop that had several pieces of art on display, some of them telling many parts of Ikaruga's history. After that they decided to check out several of the shops along the way eventually finding this odd form of merchandise called Manga… Bullet was hooked instantly, though Ragna seemed adamant about her not reading _Sailor Moon_ for some reason.

After that they decided to stop at a sushi restaurant for lunch. Things were going great there until Bullet proposed a contest of who could handle more Wasabi on a single piece… Ragna lost in the first round and Bullet could swear she saw him breathing fire as he screamed. But, though painful, Ragna laughed it off and Bullet joined in with him.

Window shopping wasn't the only thing the two did, they also managed to get a look of some of the astounding architecture of the Ikaruga federation and even witnessed an impressive street show with balancing tops and katanas.

After a good few hours of running around, the two decided to head over to Bang's place. They didn't have much trouble finding it (the ninja was very well known in town) and arrived at his estate shortly. After getting the introductions taken care of early the three began walking in garden.

"So what's this… thing you were talking about? You know, the one you said I wanted to see."

"Ah yes, well I would have thought we'd run into-" Bang wasn't able to finish that sentence.

"ONII-CHAN!" a young voice shouted out. Ragna turned in surprise for a moment getting tackled by a young boy, only about eight years old. He had spiky brown hair, tanned skin, and a giant smile on his face. Ragna recognized him instantly.

"Whoa, Ling!? What are you doing here?"

"Mr. Bang's helping to raise me, he said he was going to train me to be a ninja when I grow up," the child said with a giant smile. Bang laughed at the child's innocence and energy. "But I told him I wanted to be a Grim Reaper like my older brother." Bang's laughter was then replaced by Ragna and Bullets. "C'mon! You got to see this place, it's amazing!"

"Whoa! Hey slow down! I'm coming!" Ragna said as he was dragged away yet again. This time by a child about a third of his height.

Bullet smirked. "I guess that kid must really look up to Ragna."

"He certainly does," Bang said with a smile. Bullet noticed that this wasn't a happy or content smile, but a bittersweet one. His may have been directed towards Ragna and Ling, but Bullet could tell he was really looking at the past.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Bang sighed. "Ling and Ragna did not meet under good circumstances. This was during Ragna's most recent job where to two of us worked together. I normally don't leave Kagutsuchi, but after hearing word that refugees from Ikaruga had been taken by a vicious slave trade, I had little choice." The elderly ninja let out a sigh. "Ling was one of the children we'd found that had been captured. When we rescued him he didn't even react. Others told us that he'd had to watch his own parents die of disease while they were in that hellhole." Bang gripped his fist in anger. "Lord knows what else that child had been forced to witness."

"How did he recover?" Bullet asked.

"Ragna is the cause of that one," he said as he saw the two in the distance as Ling pointed out all of the different fish in the pond. "The entire time we spent escorting the group to the safe zone, he took it upon himself to care for the child. Eventually Ling started to recover with time and care and soon their bond became similar to that of two brothers. Quite an extraordinary man."

"He certainly is," Bullet agreed as Ling tried to catch one of the fish with his bare hands. She could see Ragna was giving the child some encouragement and some advice when he didn't succeed. "What do you know about Ragna?"

"Though our time together has been short, I can honestly say that I can put my complete faith in that man. Though he acts cold and uncaring, it seems that he may be one of the most caring souls out there. When it was time for us to receive the reward for our actions do you know what he did?" Bullet shook her head. "He gave every penny he'd earned to refugees, telling them to use it and make a better lives for themselves. I suppose it's ironic for the Grim Reaper to be so caring."

Bullet nodded. She'd remembered some of Ragna's actions like that from the past, like the time he'd helped an entire group of kids living off of the streets by buying food for them, merely because he'd wanted to.

Ragna and Ling walked back just as the two finished their conversation. Ling looked at Bullet and asked, "Are you Ragna's friend?" Bullet nodded. "Then I guess that makes you my nee-chan!"

"What!?" Bullet shouted her face slightly crimson. She remembered from the manga she'd read earlier that it stood for older sister, but this child called her that this soon? She noticed Bang giving a smile that went from ear to ear while Ragna let out a loud barrage of laughter. _'Maybe it isn't that bad,'_ she thought to herself.

*Time Skip*

After the group had enjoyed dinner at Bangs, Ragna and Bullet went back to the square in Ronin-Gai. There was a huge cherry blossom tree in the center that was in full bloom. This tree had been a part of Kagutsuchi long before the city had been built and many people came from all over the world to see the this cherry tree, the largest of its kind.

"Quite the day we had," Ragna commented as the two walked under the large branches. "Looks like you made sure I got another jog in today Bullet," he said with a chuckle.

"You complaining?" she asked him with a smile.

"Nah, I had great time. Wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Glad to see we agree," Bullet told him. It was in that instance a large gust of wind blew by sending several of the fallen petals right into her face and cause several more to slowly trickle down over the two. "Ah!" she shrieked in surprise.

"C'mon they're just petals," Ragna said as he started pick a few out of her hair. It was then that Bullet noticed how close they were as he did it, how softly the blossoms fell to the ground, and the slight gleam of Ragna's unmatching eyes. "Uh, Bullet?"

The mercenary slowly closed the distance between Ragna's lips and her own. The Grim Reaper was surprised, but wrapped his arms around Bullet's athletic frame. The two continued their passionate embrace, and in that time nothing mattered. There was no hate, no money, no crime, no war…

Just two lovers, under the cherry tree…


	8. Bonding III

_Fate VII: Bonding III_

Commander Harsk walked through the NOL branch close to six in the morning. Normally his job didn't need him in the office until seven, but today was a different day for him. He walked into the building and headed into the power management level. This part of the building was always in use and its workers had what was probably one of the most boring jobs in the building.

"General," Jerry, the man currently on the clock, addressed his superior while saluting.

"At ease," Harsk said before taking a sip of his coffee. "How are the systems looking?"

"Same as always," Jerry told him. "Not sure why you expected anything to be different, the systems are pretty self-sustaining."

"What about external damage to the systems?" Harsk asked.

"You'd have to damage the console in this room in order to shut the systems down," Jerry told him. "And speaking of which, they don't allow drinks in here for a reason sir. No disrespect."

"None taken son," Harsk assured him. "Tell you what, why don't you clock out early? I'm sure your wife and kid would want to spend Christmas Eve with you."

"Are you serious, sir?" Jerry asked a little taken aback. "But, what about the NOL? They say that someone has to be in here at all times."

"Let me deal with the higher ups," Jerry assured him. "You've been pulling triple shifts all week, take an early Christmas break kid."

"Thank you sir!" Jerry said saluting. "Oh, and Merry Christmas!"

After Jerry had left the building Harsk gave a small chuckle. That part of his plan went smoother than he'd expected. He then walked over to the control console labeled 'Weather Control.' He then proceeded to take a sip from his coffee mug before 'spilling' the remaining contents on the control panel. The panel gave a small spark before fizzing out.

"Oops… well, this should make the next few days interesting," he said with a chuckle before leaving the room.

-Later: Noel's Apartment-

Noel yawned to herself as she got out her room. She'd been up late last night getting the decorations ready for Christmas. The most that they'd been able to accomplish was buying the supplies and bringing them to her apartment. She was going to set it up, but Makoto had promised that she'd take care of the decorations with Bullet the following morning. Noel hadn't wanted to push the job on Makoto, but her friend had a funny way of insisting and when Bullet came back later that evening with Ragna she'd promised she'd have it done by the time Noel came back from her date.

She was somewhat surprised when she walked into the kitchen to see Ragna at the table drinking some coffee while reading the morning newspaper. She'd expected he would've left by now to go jogging like he did every morning. What was keeping him this time?

"Morning," Ragna said as he looked up from his newspaper.

"Morning," Noel said in return. "I thought you'd be out a run."

"Not this morning," Ragna said with a small smile. "Take a look outside."

Noel was curious with what Ragna was getting at, but decided to follow his advice and looked outside on her balcony. When she saw what Ragna was referring to she let out a happy scream that woke up a snoring Bullet from the couch.

"What're you so damn giddy about?" she asked groggily, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.

"Look, Look!" Noel commanded. Bullet got off the couch as Makoto came out of her room to see what the commotion was about. Kagutsuchi was covered in a thick blanket of white. Snowflakes slowly drifted to the ground. There were already children outside in winter clothing throwing snowballs at each other and sledding down the streets.

"Looks like there was a glitch in weather control," Ragna commented as he came followed the group to the glass door. "Kind of convenient," he told them.

"If it stays for tomorrow we'll have a white Christmas!" Noel shouted excitedly. Makoto and Ragna gave a small chuckle, while Bullet looked at Noel in confusion; it was just snow. The former two however knew that Noel had always had a soft spot in her heart for snowy weather, especially when it was close to her birthday.

"I'll get breakfast started," Ragna told them.

"Okay," Noel said as she went back to watching the snow fall like a little kid. _'My birthday's tomorrow, I get to spend the entire day with Ragna, and on top of everything it's snowing! Can today get any better?'_

-Meanwhile: The Forest Outside of Kagutsuchi-

Hakumen knelt in the forest, the old hero was deep in meditation. He'd been this way since late last night, so what he was currently doing could be referred to as sleep for him. His thoughts had been cleared several hours ago, but he stayed here, lest the nightmarish visions of past continued to hound him.

"Dang it! That's not right!" he heard Platinum complain. "Guess I'll just have to start over."

' _What is that child doing?'_ Hakumen thought to himself. _'She never gets up this early._ '

"Almost got it," Platinum said a short distance away. Though she was only a short distance away, she was hiding in the trees, preventing Hakumen from seeing what she was attempting. "Dang it!"

"Is something wrong Platinum?" Hakumen decided to finally voice.

"Ack!" Platinum shrieked. "Master Haku, I didn't think you were listening."

"Care to explain what you're doing?" Hakumen said as he slowly rose to his feet.

"NO!" Platinum shouted. "I-I'll show you, but can it wait until tomorrow?"

"I suppose," Hakumen said with a sigh before he realized her words. _'Wait, today is the 24_ _th_ _of December, Christmas Eve. And Platinum is in the middle of making something and is being secretive about it…'_ Hakumen then remember a certain Christmas day that long ago that he'd spent with his first apprentice. Despite what little Ragna had to work with he'd managed to provide gifts for not only Hakumen, but for Rachel and Valkenhayn as well. _'Damn it.'_ "Platinum?"

"Yes Master?" Platinum responded from through the trees.

"I am leaving for some time. Rest assured, I will return by nightfall. You are allowed to train or rest, it's up to you. Use the time as you see fit."

"Okay?" Platinum said as she left.

 _'Now I just to find a place that will sell her something that she'll like,'_ Hakumen thought to himself. _'While avoiding detection from people who have saved their shopping until the last minute… This will not be easy, I'll be surrounded by thousands of people at the mall… And I have very little money… So this is what it's like to be a father.'_

-Two hours later: Downtown Kagutsuchi-

Noel and Ragna were looking through the clothing stores of Kagutsuchi trying to find a proper attire for Ragna when they visited Clark. Ragna had told Noel that he'd been fine shopping alone, but Noel had insisted on going with him, clingy to him like always.

"Are you sure the coat's necessary?" he asked. "I could always wear my red coat, right?"

"Yeah, but the problem is it's too…"

"Epic?" Ragna suggested with a laugh.

"Actually, that's kind of it," Noel admitted. "My friends are pretty regular people so I thought it would be nicer if you acted more like a regular person."

"Hey, I'm a pretty regular guy when you get to know me," Ragna told Noel.

"Well hopefully with this out they'll see you as a normal guy much quicker," Noel advised, explaining the method to her madness.

Ragna was now dressed in black dress shoes, black slacks, and a formal dark blue shirt. He completed the outfit with a black Peacoat and a crimson scarf. The Grim Reaper thought that this would be the closest he'd ever come to formal attire. He only hopped that Rachel wouldn't see him in this outfit… but it certainly wasn't a bad change from his normal attire.

"I'm gonna go pay for this," Ragna said as he got in line. It was then that he noticed that Noel was staring at the open pretzel stand across the street and let a small chuckle at the lieutenant's childishness. "Go on, I'll catch up with you after I'm done here."

"All right," Noel said with a smile as she left. She walked up to the stand. "One cinnamon pretzel."

"Sure thing kid," the man said as he used his tongs to put the pretzel in the wrapping paper. "Anything else?"

"Just a salt one to go with it," Noel said, remembering that was how Ragna like his pretzel. As she took the two pretzel and paid for them. She then walked over to an empty street bench to wait for Ragna.

"Well, isn't this a surprise!" a voice called out. Noel died a little on the inside, she knew who that voice belonged to. It was her bully of a co-worker Jill, who was coming towards her with a haughty sneer on her face. "Well, looks like flatness is eating for two. Trying to turn that cutting board of yours into something and stop looking like a little boy?"

 _'That's just mean!'_ Noel thought to herself. She's been insulted by Jill about her chest size before so this wasn't the first time, but saying that she looked like a little boy was a new low. "How do you even live with yourself?" Noel asked with a glare.

"Oh, now what's this? Little miss blonde finally developing a back bone? Maybe now that you have something to fill that empty space you might get-!"

"Be quiet," Noel said with force interrupting Jill. "Why are you even talking to me anyways?"

"Just thought I'd say hello and give you my thanks for that little report you sent out a few days ago. You know the one where you embarrassed me for thinking Sector Seven's behind the attacks! Thanks to you I have to go through reevaluation on Christmas! ON CHRISTMAS!" If Jill hadn't caused enough of a scene already see ripped of part off Ragna's pretzel and shoved it in her mouth.

"The report I filled said nothing about you," Noel attested. "I was just doing my job to-!"

"To make me look like a fool!" Jill shouted. It occurred to Noel that the two were attracting a lot of attention with their little scuffle. "Take this you little bi-!"

A dark clothed forearm got in the way and intercepted the slap to Noel's face. Jill was about to tell the person who interfered off, but that was before she realized who it was. He may have been in different clothing that she was used to seeing, but he was unmistakable with his silver hair and glaring red and green eyes. She felt that the glare he was giving her was staring right into their soul and for some reason she felt like he was about to steal it.

"Don't try it," Ragna said to her, his tone thick with venom. "You alright Noel?"

"I'm fine," she said as she stood, still holding the pretzels. "Come on, Ragna. Let's go."

Ragna nodded, before giving one last glare to Jill and leaving. "Care to explain what that was?" he asked.

"She's my coworker, namely that one coworker that always gets on your nerves. She's always like that… well she was a lot more aggressive this time around."

"And this is why I didn't get a desk job, well besides the fact that I'd suck at it." Ragna let out a chuckle. "Anyways do you think we should grab some Champaign for the Clark and May?"

"Normally I'd say yes, but May actually can't have alcohol," she told Ragna. The Reaper cocked his head to the side not getting it. "Ragna, she's pregnant."

"Aaaaaaaaand you were going to tell me this when?" Ragna questioned.

"When we went to buy them their Christmas gift," Noel told him. "I say we should get them something for the kid… By the way Ragna what gender do you think it'll be?"

"Where's this coming from?" Ragna questioned. "I don't know them so I wouldn't know what to think… I don't know, a girl, I guess?"

"Funny, that's what Clark was thinking. I was actually think that it'd be a boy like May did."

"So it's a battle of the sexes then, literally," Ragna thought to himself with a sigh. "I just know I'm going to lose this one, I never win anything when you're involved."

"Glad to know that you're aware of that," Noel said with a small giggle. "C'mon let's check the baby store in order to get something for them."

"Alright fine," Ragna said as he followed her. After a moment he realized what he'd just agreed to. Going into a baby shop, just him and Noel. A guy and a girl visiting a baby store together. _'Shit…'_ It was then that Noel linked arms with Ragna. _'And Noel just HAD to finish the image… What have I gotten myself into?'_

-Meanwhile-

 _'What have I gotten myself into?'_ Hakumen thought to himself. As he observed the two stores in front of him. He knew that this was all his fault for not doing something until this late, but he had to do something. If Platinum was going through such work for him, he could at least get her something small in return.

Currently he was in front of the last two toy stores in Kagutsuchi open in front of him. The store on his right was a general toy store which seemed like a good place to start, he could get her a board game, but then she'd make him play with it, which he supposed he could stomach doing. The same would apply if he got her a deck of cards, not the most thought out gift, but at the very least she could play solitaire by herself. The store to his left… let's just stick with the store on his right.

Hakumen glanced over his shoulder and it seemed like he was the target of several stares. He'd been hesitant when everyone had started looking at him oddly, but then one person had suggested it was someone 'cosplaying' as Hakumen… something that he was quite relieved to hear, until they wanted him to recite his line from the movie about the six heroes. He had left there without saying a word.

The hero started walking towards the store towards one of their employees walked up to the store window and put up a sign. 'Completely sold out.'

"So this is what it feels like to be my first apprentice," he said disappointedly to himself before looking at option B. "Am I really going to…?" He shook his head. "I have little choice in this matter."

As he walked into the store he was greeted by a very cheery employee. "Welcome to 'Build a Beastkin!' How can I help you today?"

 _'This is demeaning, and not just for me. God rest your soul Jubei,'_ Hakumen thought to himself. "I am in need of a gift for my…" ' _Apprentice? Pupil? Charge? Deceased war friend who's now in the body of a sixteen year old with their own personality?'_ "Niece," he decided.

"Oh, so that's who you're searching to buy for," the person told him. "Well I've got good news," she said gesturing to the empty shelves. "We still have one product left and the best part is it's our best seller! We just found it in its packaging at the back of the store. I can sell it to you for sixty platinum dollars!"

"Very well," Hakumen agreed as he went up to the register. That was when the woman pulled the product out from behind the desk. _'Dear god! Is that…?'_ Hakumen couldn't even begin to describe what was wrong with it, only that is was the second most evil thing he'd ever laid his eyes on, right under Terumi. "Are you sure this is the only one?"

"Geeze, I'd think you'd be happier. After all, this is very popular with young ladies."

"She's in her late teens," Hakumen decided to inform.

"Oh really?" the store clerk said. "Then she's going to be ALL over this thing!" Her words did the exact opposite of reassuring Hakumen. For the first time in his life, he was terrified.

' _Note to self,'_ the former hero thought to himself as he begrudgingly paid and the woman wrapped Platinum's Christmas present. _'Next time, MAKE gift.'_

-Later-

Noel knocked on the door to Clark and May's apartment. The door opened revealing the two. Clark had been described in an earlier chapter. May was a skinny girl with spiky blond hair. She was dressed in blue jeans and a red wool sweater.

"So I guess Clark didn't mishear you," she said a little surprised. "Well, nice to meet you Ragna."

"Likewise," Ragna said with a small smile.

"Please come inside," Clark said as he made way for the two. The two went inside and put their coats on the coat hanger. "So how did you and Noel meet?"

"It was a long time ago," Ragna told him. "She had just graduated from the academy with Makoto and I was just starting out as a bounty hunter. It took place in Ikaruga, just after the war had ended. It wasn't and easy job, but we lived through it."

"I take it that was before you became world-known?" May asked. Ragna gave a small nod. "So you and Noel go a ways back then."

"Yeah, we've met up on other jobs as well, but that one was probably our hardest since we were the most inexperienced then." He gave a small chuckle. "Even back then Makoto was still pulling pranks on me."

"And you always fell for them," Noel said with a grin. "Oh well at least now you're not letting her get away with it."

"What about you two," Ragna asked as he sat down on their sofa next to Noel. "How did you two meet?"

"Shortly after Clark transferred here from the academy," May told him. "I was actually working at a clothes shop downtown when we first started dating. It was ironic because when we first met I was actually helping him get some clothes set out with his first date. Apparently he was going out with a co-worker of his for drinks. I guess the date didn't go so well because he was actually back the evening to return the suit with in a bad mood. So I offered to buy him a drink to help improve his mood since I was about to get off."

"And I take it you hit it off from there?" Ragna asked. The couple in question had a small smile and light blush on their face.

"Yeah," Clark admitted. "I knew what time she was getting off at the next day so I bought her flowers as a way of saying thanks. After that, we decided to hit a movie together and we just got closer and closer."

"Cute," Ragna admitted. "Not to bring up bad memories, but what went wrong with the first date?"

Clark cringed slightly, just the thought of thinking about it irked him. "My date had a tendency to… put herself out there. She wasn't really dressed in appropriate attire and she enjoyed getting a lot of attention from other men, despite the fact she was on a date. When the third guy came over to ask for her number and if she'd ditch me and she flirted back with him I'd had enough." He let out a sigh. "Didn't help that after I left she decided to take one of the guys up on the offer. Her name was Jill."

"Wait, that's who it was?" Noel asked surprised. "We actually ran into Jill today. She tried to raise trouble with me, but Ragna managed to tell her off."

"How'd you manage to do that?" Clark asked Ragna somewhat impressed. From his experience, Jill wasn't an easy person to get rid of. "Say something to get her to back off?"

Noel giggled. "It wasn't so much what he said as it was how he said it. Also, he's pretty scary when he glares."

"Hey, I'm not that frightening am I?" Ragna asked a little hurt. Noel only gave a small giggle. "Whatever."

The four stayed there for a while and chatted with each other before they had Shepherd's pie for dinner. They left their gift that they got for the two before heading out.

"Thanks for coming with me," Noel said with a small smile.

"My pleasure," Ragna told her with his own smile before observing a group of kids in a snow fort. "It's nice to know that you've got friends a work that you can talk to." That was when he noticed the blonde wasn't beside him. "Noel?"

That was when Ragna was pelted in the back of the head by a snowball. The Reaper sighed as he slowly turned around to face his attacker. "All right Noel, let's stop the gam-" That was when he was smashed in the face by another snowball. "Noel!"

"Come on! How often do we get snow? We should have fun with this!"

"Noel I'm not-!" Another snowball to the face. "That's it!" Ragna knelt to grab a clump of snow before hurling it at Noel as hard as he could. Noel shrieked as she dived out of the way, hit the ground, and returned fire. The two spent the next two hours snowball fighting, sledding down the mountain, and even building a snowman.

"Heh," Ragna laughed to himself as he finished putting the final coal eye on their creation. "You always manage to wrap me into this kid stuff with you. Quick question, how?"

"Just part of my charm," Noel responded as she surprised Ragna by tackling him into a pile of snow.

"Geeze," Ragna groaned as he managed to sit up. "I guess so. Anyways I was going to give this to you tomorrow, but now seems like the right time," Ragna began as he brought out a wrapped gift with his Ars Magus _storage_ ability. "Happy birthday, Noel."

"Ragna, you didn't have to get me anything!" Noel said in surprise.

"Course I did," Ragna assured. "Go on, open it."

Noel carefully undid the crimson ribbon and ripped off the green wrapping paper. As she undid the flaps she let out loud scream. "It's adorable!" The object in question? An adorable little panda plushy, Noel's favorite animal. "Where did you find this?"

"I found it a while ago in this small shop in Ikaruga. They seemed to specialize in this stuff, and they had a panda as their product of choice, so I decided to get this for you. And since everyone's going to be celebrating your birthday tomorrow, I thought I'd celebrate it with you today."

"Ragna y-you…" Ragna could see the tears coming from Noel's eyes. At first the Reaper was worried that he'd screwed something up, but that was before Noel smashed her lips into his. The two stayed there for a moment, enjoying the embrace as the snow gently feel around them. "Thank you. You've always been there for me, especially when I've needed you."

"Obviously," Ragna said, playfully poking Noel's forehead. "I'm not about anyone to mistreat you or disrespect you. You mean too much to me for that."

"Enough to watch ' _Love Actually'_ with me tonight?" Noel asked hopefully.

"Don't push it, _Home Alone,_ " Ragna countered. The two tried to stare down each other, something Ragna wasn't used to getting from Noel. "We'll let Bullet and Makoto decide."

"Deal," Noel said as she got up and linked her hand with Ragna's as the two walked back to her apartment. The NOL officer rested her head on Ragna's shoulder as they walked, not wanting to lose this moment for anything.

 **Disclaim: I own nothing. 'Nuff said.**

 **Authors Note: The Christmas chapter is up next. I don't really have anything to say, so here's the some review responses.**

 **RKDWriter and IdeaPerson1097: Thanks, I sort of just came up with it though.**

 **: I'm a little unsure with what you were trying to say, but hopefully you survive the 'fluff attack.'**

 **Random Fan: I don't have that much of a plan as of right now, but I'll have something thought out for all of those events.**

 **Ciao… I guess?**


	9. Chirstmas

_Fate VIII: Christmas_

Twas' the morning or Christmas and all the home, no creature made a sound especially a gnome. The adults were all fast asleep in the beds, couch, and floor, and this my dear readers is where we start today's lore. And Noel Vermillion, sweet, young, and pure, for this deafening silence she has quite the…

"WAKE UP! IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

…cure?

I suppose now's the time for me to que out, my part here was short so I may give a small pout… How the hell did Seuss do this rhyming stuff? I'm one minute in and I'm minds full of fluff. Alright, I'm stopping this here… no seriously, it ends now.

Ragna the Bloodedge groggily made his way up from his sleeping bag on the floor while Bullet groaned as she started falling out of her blissful sleep, Bullet was known as a pretty impressive mercenary and she was able to wake up at a moment's notice, but put her in an actually bed or at least a sofa and she won't want to get up. Makoto got out of the guest room rubbing her eyes.

"Wow, Noel actually managed to sleep in until six, I think that's a record." The squirrel Beastkin might have been energetic when it came to most things, but you needed to give her some time when it went to mornings.

"Noel, we told you seven-thirty last night," Ragna said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he walked over to the table and sat down laying his head on the surface for just a moment before Makoto shook him awake. "Hey watch it!"

"I don't sleep, no one sleeps," Makoto told him before letting out another yawn. "Mind going out and grabbing some coffee for us to wake up with?"

"It's Christmas morning Makoto," Ragna groaned. "I don't think that there's anywhere serving coffee that's open now."

"Merry Christmas Noel," Bullet said out of nowhere, handing her friend an average sized box.

"Thank you," Noel said with a smile, even though they normally started the day out with handing out presents she took Bullet present and unwrapped it. Inside was a coffee maker that she'd been eyeing when the two went out and grabbed coffee the other day. "Aw, thanks Bullet. You didn't have to."

"Well you didn't have a coffee maker, so I had to grab you something. Also, I found something for Makoto as well." Bullet tossed another package to the Beastkin who opened it and grinned.

"Sweet! Training weights! Thanks Bullet!" Makoto said happily, knowing she'd definitely get a chance to use those suckers later. "This'll help me out big time!"

"I figured," Bullet said to Makoto with a small smile. "I remember using those things to train with back at with my old mercenary group and I figured you could use them yourself." Bullet grabbed her last present to give from the pile and tossed to the one person who hadn't received one. "And of course, one for Ragna."

Ragna caught the present in his hand and looked it over for a second. "All right, thanks." He tore the wrapping off the gift before looking at the small gift with surprise. "Are these those elite high power Ars Magus shot gun rounds? I thought these were in impossible to find since they shut the project down!"

"It was a bonus from a job I took a few months ago," Bullet told him. "I didn't have a use for it, so I figured that you'd have a better use than I did."

"Well thanks," Ragna said, happy with the gift he got. While his Ars Magus shotgun or mini gun didn't require ammunition since it fed off of his BlazBlue's energy, but there were special rounds made that could boost the power immeasurably. "Hey, I know the coffee maker is Noel's gift, but I think we should all try it out and see how good the coffee that it makes is."

"Coffee sounds heavenly," Noel told him. "So feel free to get it started. Who wants to give out presents next?"

"Me!" Makoto said, giving a box each to Noel and Bullet. "Hopefully you can enjoy them!" she said with a flirty smile.

Noel and Bullet had no idea what Makoto was thinking so they undid the wrappings and opened the box. As soon as the saw what was inside they immediately shut the box with crimson faces. Makoto was expecting them to wear… that?

"What'd she get you?" came Ragna voice from the kitchen as he set up the coffee maker.

"Oh, just some really cute dresses!" Noel said, laughing nervously before glaring at Makoto. The Beastkin feigned innocence, though she knew she'd sent the rather... provocative lingerie.

"Really, let me see 'em," Ragna said peeking out of the kitchen his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Oh Ragna," Bullet said nervously while waving her hand side to side. "It's a girl thing. You wouldn't be able to understand it."

"If you say so," Ragna said before going back into the kitchen, and working with the coffee maker for another moment before coming back. "Coffee should be ready in a moment," he informed before catching his own gift. "Thanks Makoto," he said before unwrapping the gift. "This is that cook book I was looking at the last time we saw each other, the one with recipes from Ikaruga. I thought these were sold out."

"Don't underestimate me," Makoto said with a flirty smile. "Okay Noellers, I think you're up."

"Here's your gift Bullet," Noel said smiling. "You told me about a few of the shops you stopped at in Ronin-Gai with Ragna, so I thought this would be a good gift."

After Bullet finished unwrapping it, she saw it was a book.

"Oh, a manga novel," Bullet said as she looked at the cover.

 _'Please don't be Sailor Moon,'_ Ragna prayed in desperation. _'I don't need another one hooked on that series.'_

" _FullMetal Alchemist?_ Strange title," Bullet observed while Ragna gave a sigh of relief. "I'll give a read later, thanks Noel."

"I hope you enjoy it," Noel told her. "That's my favorite series aside from Sailor Moon, Ragna's too!" Noel grabbed out a much smaller gift and handed it to Makoto. "This is more of a gift you can mainly use during the winter, but I hope you'll like it."

The contents of the box was a beautiful neckless with a snowflake amulet. Makoto smiled as she put it on. To her, it completed her outfit even further. "Aw, thanks Noellie!" she said grabbing her friend in a tight hug.

"And lastly, the gift for Ragna!" Noel said handing Ragna a rather large box. The Grim Reaper looked inside the box questioningly before opening the lid just slightly. He immediately closed it when he saw what it was.

"You can't be serious," he groaned. "I'm not wearing this."

"I let you stay with me these past few days right?" Noel said with a small smile.

"You're not making Bullet or Makoto do anything like this!" he complained.

"Nope, just you," she said with a smile. "Now hurry up and put it on, I want to see how you look in it."

"Fine," he surrendered as he went into the bathroom. _'When has Noel been the one to order me around? Normally she's too timid to demand anything and just settles for asking meekly, but now she acts like she's the one in control… I guess it is kind of hot…'_

A moment later the Reaper emerged from the bathroom dressed up as Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon, attire and all. Noel let out a girlish giggle as Makoto made a sharp whistle at him. Only Bullet was confused, but she still had to fight not to laugh at him. Ragna couldn't fight down this blush.

"There, you saw me in it," he told them. "Can I get out of this thing now?"

"Sure thing," Noel said with a smile. "I'm glad you like it."

 _'If Kokonoe ever found out about this I'd be a dead man,'_ he thought to himself while he changed back. After he walked outside he addressed each of the girls. "After that last gift, I'm a little unsure of give you your presents now, but I suppose I'll just have to play nice." He gave Noel her gift first.

"An ebony bracelet?" Noel said somewhat confused before she tried it on. "It looks nice and has a really cool design, thanks Ragna!"

"You're welcome," he said before giving Makoto her present. The Beastkin opened it up and revealed it to be an orange cotton turtleneck.

"Oh, looks warm," Makoto said before trying it on. "And it is. Plus orange is my color so that's a plus. Thanks so much Ragna!"

"Glad you like it," Ragna said before taking the last gift out. "This one's pretty small, but here you go Bullet." He tossed the gift to his long time bounty hunting friend.

"Let's see," Bullet said taking the gift out. "A new belt! Perfect, my old one is so worn out! And is this the special Wadatsumi leather that I heard about?" Ragna nodded. "Well thanks."

"You're welcome," Ragna said before heading back into the kitchen. "Looks like we're ready. Who wants coffee?"

* * *

* _Meanwhile_ *

"Am I really going to give my apprentice this gift?" Hakumen said to himself. Platinum had awoken earlier and was now enjoying a few breakfast scones that Rachel and Valkenhayn had brought for her to enjoy. That was supposedly the harlequin's present to his apprentice, and even he could appreciate the gesture in treating her today, but now it came time for him to give his apprentice the gift.

He grabbed the box behind the hiding spot as he decided that it would be best to get this over with. He actually had doubts that his apprentice would even be able to stand the gift, but he'd at least present it to her. As he walked towards the group with a present under his arm Platinum's face lit up with a smile that went from ear to ear. _'You won't be smiling when you see what's inside,'_ he thought somewhat sadly.

"Merry Christmas Platinum," he told his apprentice as he gave her the present.

"Merry Christmas Master!" she said to him happily as she gave him a sheet of paper.

Hakumen looked over what he'd been given. The picture was hand drawn with a set of colored pencils and was created with love, patience, and skill. It was a picture of himself and his apprentice. He was standing up straight with his arms crossed and his hair flowing in the wind. That single caricature was able to put more emotion into a suit of armor than he was able to. Platinum had drawn herself in a tone that perfectly described her; kind, playful, and loving.

"Thank you for this… heartfelt gift," he said trying to find the right words. "I can clearly see that you worked very hard on this." What he couldn't tell her was just how much he'd come to cherish this one simple drawing.

"Well I had to, you're my teacher after all!" Platinum said with a smile as she the wrapping on her gift and looked inside. "Is that…?"

Hakumen noticed that even Rachel and Valkenhayn were staring at the object in confusion, awe, and probably disgust, and he really couldn't blame them. The object in hand was a doll of… wolfish designs. It had white fur, the wolf ears, and of course the tail. The object was humanoid and clothed however, but the fact that they were truly staring were some of the features. Namely a red coat, a giant plastic sword, and red and green eyes.

 _'I should have expected this,'_ Hakumen thought with a sigh. "Platinum I'm sorr-"

He was interrupted by a high-pitched scream and saw that he would have been better with his first guess. She was crushing that thing in the hug she was giving it.

"How did you know?!" Platinum demanded as she proceeded to squeeze the life out of wolf Ragna. "I've wanted one of these ever since they came out a week ago and I heard they were sold out! It's just so CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!"

 _'Good god, what have I wrought upon myself?'_ Hakumen deadpanned. Seeing Platinum hugging something that resembled his former apprentice, something that'd he'd been trying to kill in previous shifts, and something that she had LOATHED with a passion, it was almost unbearable.

He then looked to Rachel, expecting some form a verbal rebuke, but he notice that she was staring intensely on Platinum as she continued hugging the doll. No, she wasn't staring at the two of them, she was focused entirely on the doll.

 _'Don't tell me she's jealous,'_ he thought at first before allowing the low rumble that was his chuckle. _'Of course she's jealous… Oh the blackmail I can get away from with this… Perhaps there is an upside to this.'_ He then returned his attention to Platinum hugging the large doll. _'At a great cost…'_

* * *

*Meanwhile*

Everyone in Noel's apartment let out a large satisfied sigh. The brunch that they made was both delicious and filling. And after every great meal, the thing that everyone needed was a nap. As all of the girls went to sleep Ragna started washing up the dishes and clearing off the table. While he was working, he was starting to face reality.

 _'These past few days have been the most fun I've had in years, but I need to face facts. I'm the Grim Reaper, the hidden threat to the NOL and the destroyer of the world. They don't know what I do, but if they did I doubt any of them would see me in the same light. And if I did tell them they'd be in as much danger as I am…'_

Ragna sighed as he grabbed out a piece of paper from the drawer and wrote a quick note on it. _'It's killing me to do this,'_ he thought as he stored the gifts he'd gotten this morning. _'Maybe I can talk to them after my fight's over, but I can't do it before.'_

He took one last look as the apartment as he left before heading out. The sky was dull and cloudy and there was still snow gently falling to the ground. Ragna was alone as he continued to walk down the street, planning to leave Kagutsuchi and find some other branch to attack. On the way out he noticed several NOL officer pass by him running towards the office branch.

* * *

*Fifteen minutes ago- The NOL office branch*

"So your theory that Sector Seven had developed a new super weapon to destroy the NOL and had been performing field test was based on what exactly?"

"It was based on the fact that they have the resource and the fact that they have some of the best scientific minds in order to complete the project. I mean you've seen the videos of 'Project Tager' right?" Jill was getting tired of defending herself, this was supposed to be a day that she could spend to herself, hitting parties as she pleased, not defending her position.

"Indeed they could, but the evidence supported by Noel Vermillion was actually able to show us their budget with was a result of the operations agreement with the NOL. While they're certainly not in the red, they don't have nearly the resources able to handle a job of this magnitude."

"Who's to say they're not just lying to us on the reports!?" Jill demanded. "Those reports aren't stamped by us or-!"

"Let me stop you right there. I'd think you'd know a little more about the inner workings of NOL and Sector Seven before placing blame. Sector Seven doesn't write those reports, an NOL representative records the findings themselves and brings it back to us in a monthly report. I'd think we'd be noticing a difference in their funding by now."

"Unless our representative is their agent!" Jill shrieked. "I don't see how-!"

"You're grasping at straws," the evaluator scolded her. "Keep this up and we might have to change your position to… let's see what's low enough? Janitor maybe?"

"You-!" Jill said with a hateful glare in her eyes, before realizing she could turns this around completely. "But you don't want to do that," she said with a sultry smile. "After all, there's so much fun for the two of us to have."

"Oh?" the evaluator said, an interested gleam in his eye. "I see…"

"And all you'd have to do is change your report a teeny tiny bit for me," Jill said, getting up in his face her hands gently resting on his shoulders. "Doesn't that sound nice?" She slowly moved her lips in for a kiss, knowing that her prey would be unable to move when she took the lead.

 ** _SHUNK!_**

Pain filled her entire body and she heard the splatter of blood hitting the carpet. She looked down and saw her chest had been impaled by a knife she slowly fell backwards as her evaluator and attack kept his hand on the knife handle, letting out a small giggle before going out into a full laugh.

"And here I thought you'd do something interesting!" he yelled before laughing like a maniac, keeping Jill from falling over by twisting the knife slightly. His yellow eye bore deep into hers. "You really need to work on your foreplay lady, you'll never get anyone with that garbage tone… NOT THAT IT MATTERS NOW!"

The knife was pulled from Jill's chest as there was a burst of crimson liquid. The officer fell to the floor, her blood staining the carpeting. Hazama let out a string of insane laughs, long enough that he eventually had to catch his breath.

"OH DAMN THAT FELT GOOD!" he yelled, glad that he'd set up a silencing Ars Magus. "That bitch offered me more ecstasy stabbing her with a knife than stabbing her with my sword!" He smirked at his obvious innuendo. "I guess I should feel bad, after all I am killing someone on Christmas… Ah hell, why let Jill have all the fun!?"

He stuck a button sending out an emergency signal to every NOL agent in the city. 'Return to headquarters.'

" _Deck the halls with the blood of paaawns! Falalalalalalalala! Tis the reason to be carving! FalalalahehheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ OH! TERUMI IS **BACK** BITCHES!"

* * *

*Meanwhile*

Ragna was in Kagutsuchi's port, looking for an NOL officer that could help sell him the ticket he needed to get out of town. Currently the station was empty, but why wouldn't it be? All of the people here were spending the time sleeping in, having eggnog, spending time with their family.

 _'Damn it Ragna, let it go. You're doing the right thing,_ ' The Reaper scolded himself. _'I might've just thrown away the best thing I ever had, but I can't let any of them get hurt.'_

"Feeling sorry for yourself?" he heard a voice say. He turned his head and saw a familiar face.

"Oh, hey Rachel. Merry Christmas."

"Honestly Ragna, what are you doing? I thought you'd be spending time with those girls you care so much about. Not spending and evening in a station with no one else around looking glum."

"That's why I'm here," Ragna said as he sat on a bench and sighed. "I care about them too much to have something happen to them, and I feel like I've been lying to them the entire time. They deserve someone better than me."

"Like who?" Rachel asked, sitting on the bench beside Ragna. Her pets Nago and Gii weren't present, but she'd insisted on coming alone.

"I don't know, someone," Ragna told her. "I'm just a Reaper on a suicide mission. That's not exactly the best job security for someone to have." He sighed. "But enough about that, I have something that I think you'll want to look at."

Out of his Ars Magus storage he brought out a small box and handed it to Rachel.

"A Christmas present, for me?" she seemed slightly off guard. "Well now, you do still have some surprises."

"Yeah, I've got a few," Ragna admitted with a slight grin. "Go on, open it."

"As you wish," Rachel said as she undid the ribbon and opened the box. She almost let out a gasp at what she saw. Inside was a glass rose, a work of master craftsmanship, she could tell that the design was based around the species of roses in her garden, a design that should be impossible to find. "Where did you find this?"

"I didn't," Ragna told her. "Back when I was in Wadatsumi I got a couple of classes for glass wielding. It was impossible to get down at first, but eventually I was able to make this."

Rachel was silent for a moment before giving the tiniest of smiles. "I'm afraid you actually have me at a disadvantage right now Ragna. I did not come prepared with a Christmas gift today."

"Eh, it's fine," Ragna told her. "I enjoy giving gifts much more than I enjoy getting them."

Rachel was silent for a moment before she fixed her eyes on Ragna in an unnerving glare. Ragna audibly gulped, she only gave him that look when she was about to kill him with lightning. What had he done that was so bad?

"Tell one soul about this and I will make your life an even deeper hell," Rachel promised him.

"What did I do!?" Ragna demanded. That was before he felt a pair of tiny lips touch his own. _'Is Rachel really doing this?'_ he could only think with his brain cells that hadn't just been fried. When the kiss ended he saw the visible blush on Rachel's face. Apparently she was unused to this herself. "Not a soul, I promise."

"Glad to see you understand," she said to him before resting her head on the Reaper's shoulder.

He chuckled. "And you say I'm full of surprise. That's the pot calling the kettle black if I ever heard."

"Stop talking," she commanded him. Ragna indeed stopped talking, but he still carried a small smile.

The two sat there for a moment, enjoy each other's company and watching the snow fall outside. There was a sudden pulse of darkness, a huge one, a darkness that the two could remember only too well.

"I didn't just imagine that," Ragna thought aloud as he got up from the bench, his eyes wide.

"I'm afraid not," Rachel said with equal concern in her eyes. "And it came from the branch… Damn it!" Ragna yelled as he ran off. "Well there goes a Merry Christmas."

 **Disclaimer: I don't own BlazBlue, FullMetal Alchemist, or Sailor Moon. Did I miss anything?**

 **Well… stuff happened THAT chapter. Looks like it's time to move the plot forward. Expect a lot of action from here on out.**

 **General Ironix: Now you know. I think Ragna got out lucky and Hakumen… well, he's going to endure a phase of his surrogate daughter fangirling.**

 **: Glad you survived.**

 **KnightSpark: Eventually, yes she will. Just not in this arc.**

 **Adv: Thanks, I had to come up with a few things on the fly.**

 **IdeaPerson1097: Harsk was actually the good guy boss who decided to let it snow for a day or two.**

 **Siphon Filter: You already have Hakumen, isn't that close enough to Jin. But don't worry, he'll be sure to show up later.**

 **Blackace70: I had already planned for Ragna to do something nice, but I sort of just decided to go from there.**

 **Guest: Hakumen the… Okay? I don't really get it.**

 **Rate and Review! Ciao!**


	10. The Right of Battle

_Fate IX: The Right of Battle_

Ragna had finally made his way to the highest level of Kagutsuchi, the NOL branch. As he opened the door he could tell that something was wrong. Whenever he'd attacked an NOL branch he'd been able to choose a time when the NOL bases were least fortified, but now he was walking through the front doors to the base and there wasn't a single person in the lobby. Sure, it'd been Christmas, but he'd passed by at least a hundred NOL guards when he was heading to the port. Now he couldn't sense anyone in the entire branch.

' _What the hell's going on? Is that bastard Terumi finally going to show himself after all of this time?_ ' Ragna thought to himself. He wasn't able to sense Terumi, but he felt a strange lingering darkness that might've belonged to him. Knowing he wasn't going to get any answers by just standing around the hallway, Ragna walked along the NOL's hallway, peering inside the offices to make sure he didn't find anything. Opening the door to one of the second floor meeting rooms he found a corpse lying on the floor and went to investigate.

The woman looked like she'd been stabbed in the chest with either a short sword or a knife and her last expression was one of pure terror. Ragna recognized her as Noel's bitch of a coworker, but that still didn't excuse the fact that she'd been killed by a psychopath.

 _'_ _This doesn't look good,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'_ _I only find one person in this entire branch and it's only a corpse of someone.'_ Ragna felt a sudden rumble and was nearly crushed by the presence he felt. "What the hell!?" Ragna shook off the feeling and ran to the lobby, he had a pretty good idea of who it was, but he needed to confirm it with his own eyes.

From the second floor he could see that the presence he'd sensed had come with company. She seemed to be in her teenage years, maybe a year or two younger than Noel and had peach colored hair which looked like it was tied in pigtails. She carried a staff in her hands that Ragna recognized as the Muchorin, one of the Nox Nyctores's. Her outfit looked like a magical girl's uniform with a teal and white design with a skirt as she wore glasses on her face. Her travelling companion was someone who he knew quite well, his old master, Hakumen.

Ragna didn't act immediately, trying to figure how his teacher had managed to show up to the only branch that Terumi had seemed to be at, if only for a moment. Not coming to any clear answers, Ragna decided he'd ask himself, even if all he got was another cryptic answer. Ragna tossed himself over the guard rail, feeling that stairs were clearly overrated.

 _Below_

Trinity saw the shadow from the chandelier an instant before she heard the thud echo through the building as an enigma landed on the ground in front of her. She let out a small shriek before running behind Hakumen for protection. There was silence for a moment before she snuck a quick peek at the man in front of her before gasping.

In her travels with Hakumen, she'd been tutored by him in the several fighting styles and the use of Ars Magus, but she'd also tried to do her best to keep up with what was popular and the current trends. She didn't really have much money to use, though Hakumen gave her some spending money every once in a while to enjoy herself. Clothes were too expensive to afford and the one time she'd saved up to buy a popular outfit she'd found that it gone out a style less than a week later and it hadn't survived long with the life she led. Since clothing wasn't an option she'd decided to read magazines instead.

While she wouldn't trade her life with Hakumen for anything, it was still nice to see how the rest of the teen population was living, kind of an outlet for all of the training that she did. When she read the magazines, a subject that she'd often come across was a bounty hunter who went by Bloodedge that was slowly becoming a rising star. At first she'd written it off as just another teen fad, most of the articles were about how cool his clothes were or his bad boy attitude anyways, but about a year later she saw his face again in the _Wadatsumi Herald,_ a very well respected newspaper.

Because her favorite magazine hadn't been updated yet, she'd decided to buy the paper and read the article, almost sure it would be about some form of a crash from fame or having the star going into rehab. The article itself was about the bounty hunter and how he'd destroyed a massive drug cartel that was ruining this lives of a thousand of people in Herfell, a city that was a good hundred miles from any Hierarchal city.

The reporter that had been in the city at the time was going to explain the harsh living conditions and the constant fear that the people were living in (which they still did), but before they could send the report back, the cartel had attacked, hoping to round up some of the residents and sell them off to an underground slave trade. That was when Bloodedge had shown up and within an hour the cartel had been completely eradicated, not a single member had escaped capture or death from Bloodedge. It was such a spectacle of fighting that the reporter described it as 'the Grim Reaper coming to collect,' thus earning Bloodedge his title.

Bloodedge hadn't stayed for an interview, claiming he didn't need a big reputation, but he'd given away that his actual name was Ragna during his rescue of some of the children. Platinum had though the event had been impressive, but only a week later she got another paper telling her that Ragna the Bloodedge had earned himself another victory, this time wiping out the slave trade he'd discovered from the drug cartel.

From then on Platinum started buying copies of the _Herald_ whenever she got the chance, hoping to hear more about the actual side of Ragna the Bloodedge. She'd heard plenty about his reputation, how he always took the hardest of jobs and completed them by himself and how he never let a single casualty happen when he was on the job. She began to idolize the Reaper, she saw him as her hero, something to aspire to. Eventually hoping that she'd one day get the chance to meet the man of legend, and now he was here… in front of her and her master.

Ragna and Hakumen had said nothing for the past few minutes. The two just stared at each other, waiting for each other to be the first to speak, or trying to figure out just what to say.

"It's been a while," was all Ragna said. Platinum was surprised that Hakumen had known Ragna, he'd talked to very few people in the time she'd spent training with him, but he did have a few close contacts like Rachel and Valkenhayn.

"You're here earlier than I thought you'd be," Hakumen responded. "You sensed him too?"

"Yeah, but it looks like he's been gone for a while now," Ragna answered. "You have any idea what he was here for? Oh, what am I saying, you exactly what's happening."

"… Yes," Hakumen admitted. "But I don't think you should worry about that just yet; you have many more concerning problems now and I'm not sure you're ready for Terumi in your current state."

"C'mon, I can handle myself; you taught me that much, master."

Platinum could barely believe what she'd just heard. Ragna was Hakumen's first apprentice? The apprentice that he'd never talked about was the supposed 'Grim Reaper,' a man who everyone saw as a hero? …No wonder Hakumen had said she wasn't at his level yet.

Ragna then gave a shrug. "Well whatever, this branch is empty so I'm going to destroy the cauldron and move on." He made his way past Hakumen and gave a curious glance to the girl who'd been staring at him ever since he'd got here. She looked away from him after a moment and Ragna simply shrugged.

"Are you sure you can?" Hakumen asked, causing Ragna to stop.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ragna asked as he turned his head, barely catching the flash of silver in time to dodge the blade. Hakumen had drawn his sword, _Okami_ , and Ragna had only barely been able to avoid the slash. "You're doing this now!?"

*Cue BlazBlue _Black and White_ *

"I have to ensure you are ready for what's ahead; I'll not be trapped in another hundred-year loop," Hakumen said as he readied his sword. Platinum had left Hakumen's side to retreat to a safe distance. Before Ragna could question his master's methods Hakumen spoke again, the room rumbled against the raw power.

 ** _"_** ** _I AM THE WHITE VOID,  
I AM THE COLD STEEL,  
I AM THE JUST SWORD!_**

 ** _WITH BLADE IN HAND, SHALL I REAP ALL THE SINS OF THIS WORLD, AND CLEANSE IT IN THE FIRES OF DESTRUCTION!_**

 ** _I AM HAKUMEN! THE END HAS COME!"_**

Ragna glared at his old master before giving a small smirk. If Hakumen was this insistent on seeing Ragna prove himself, the Reaper was going to give his master a beat down he'd never forget. "Fine then! You asked for this!" Ragna drew _Blood-Scythe_ and brought the sword beside his head holding it parallel to the ground, the same way Hakumen carried his sword.

 ** _"_** ** _I AM THE VENGEFUL SOUL,  
I AM THE CURSED BLADE,  
I AM THE DESTROYER!_**

 ** _WITH MY AZURE GRIMOIRE, I'M GOING TO BRING THE NOL TO ITS KNEES, AND SEND TERUMI INTO THE PITS OF HELL!_**

 ** _I AM BLOODEDGE! LET'S ROCK!"_**

 _'_ _I'm not sure if I should feel proud or spited,'_ Hakumen thought to himself before the two powerful titans rushed each other with a roar.

The two slashed and _Blood-Scythe_ met _Okami_ , causing the very ground beneath them to quake. Despite Hakumen's previously superior strength, Ragna was able to hold his master back. Using his free left arm, Ragna immediately brought out his Ars Magus shotgun and blasted a round right in his master's face.

Hakumen had seen the attack coming and guarded against it using his _God's Slash_ ability. Ragna was stopped for a moment as soon as the bullets hit the shield so Hakumen quickly performed a quick slash under Ragna's guard. Ragna barely managed to block the attack with _Blood-Scythe_ when he was unfrozen, but stumbled back slightly. Hakumen then brought down with force and Ragna was just barely able to side step it before blocking the ground level sweeping slash Hakumen performed. Hakumen then through his entire body into an attack and blasted Ragna in the chest with his shoulder. Ragna grunted as he was sent flying back, but managed to back flip in midair and land on his feet.

Ragna quickly clipped his shotgun and _Blood-Scythe_ on his carrying belt and took his two katanas out of their sheaths. _'_ _I can't block his slashes as well with these, but I can at least try to be too fast for him!'_

" ** _Empty Sky: Summer's Advance!_** " Hakumen brought his blade down, creating a huge shockwave of energy. Ragna weaved to the side to dodge the attack before coming at Hakumen full throttle. Hakumen performed yet another slash at Ragna, but the Grim Reaper quickly backed up to avoid the attack. Hakumen then performed a quick forward thrust, but Ragna easily avoided the attack.

 _'_ _Last time I saw him using those swords the only that changed was his attacks. Has he actually managed to change his entire fighting style and movement to an alternate form?'_ Hakumen attempted to slash Ragna again, but his student weave through the attack before coming to strike Hakumen. The Susanooh put his defensive shield up, but Ragna actually managed to weave around the attack before striking Hakumen in the back with a powerful kick. _'_ _He's clearly improved, but why hasn't he engaged the BlazBlue yet? Is he that confident in his own power?'_

Hakumen then blindly swung his fist at Ragna, neatly catching the back of the Reaper's head. He leapt into the air and brought Okami down in a powerful Arc. " ** _Tsubaki!_** " Ragna didn't have enough time to dodge the attack so be brought his swords up to parry. The attack's power was indescribable as Ragna was sent flying back, losing his grip on one of his swords. Hakumen rushed at Ragna with his sword's hilt, but his student armed himself with his Ars Magus shotgun and fired a blast at Hakumen, point blank. Hakumen's armor took the brute of the attack put he was momentarily phased, giving Ragna a chance to land on his feet.

As Ragna landed he quickly put his shotgun back on his weapon's belt before catching the katana he'd lost out of the air. _'_ _Damn it, he's still so high above me and he's STILL holding back! I guess I could always try using the BlazBlue…'_ Ragna took a moment to glace at his right arm. _'_ _No, I want to see how serious he is first. This thing's a last resort and for now I don't need it.'_ Ragna then noticed the building tremble as Hakumen poured more energy and power into his very being. " _…_ _I hope…'_

 _Meanwhile (End theme)_

Noel yawned as she finally made her way out of bed after taking a long Christmas nap. While she was always the first one up on Christmas morning (six year olds would've asked her to let them sleep in), after the whole Christmas morning high had ended she'd pass out and sleep like a rock. Add in a large, well-cooked breakfast from Ragna and she was out like a light.

Speaking of Ragna, Noel knew that having Ragna with her wasn't going to last forever, if anything he'd stay with her until New Years at most then move on. She was still in her agreement with Makoto and Bullet, so if she wanted to had a good chance of having Ragna choose her, she needed to be the one to confess her feelings first. True she'd kissed him on Christmas Eve, but that had only been a small part of what she actually felt for the Reaper. She got out of her bedroom hoping she'd find him sleeping on the blow-up mat she'd set up for him on the floor, but the only one in her living room was Bullet who was still asleep on the couch.

 _'_ _Funny, I wonder where he is,'_ Noel thought to herself before she noticed a small envelope on the table. Looking at the cover it looked like it was addressed to Bullet, Makoto, and herself. _'_ _Wait, did Ragna leave? Why?'_ She knew that she could look inside the letter herself and read its contents, but Ragna had addressed it to the three of them.

"Hey Bullet," Noel said as she lightly shook the Mercenary, causing her to groan. "Bullet you need to wake up. Ragna's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Bullet asked as she slowly got up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"I don't know, but he's not anywhere in the apartment and he left this letter for the three of us. Hold on a minute, I'm going to go get Makoto."

Inside the guest bedroom Noel found Makoto sleeping with head buried in the pillow and her tail in the air. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Noel couldn't help but rub Makoto's tail.

"Ragna… that tickles," Makoto giggled from her sleep. _'_ _Wait, she's dreaming about Ragna?'_ Noel thought to herself. A thought formed in her mind with specifics of the Beastkin's dreams and the officer blushed madly.

"Makoto you need to get up right now!" Noel said hurriedly. Makoto groggily opened her eyes. "Ragna's gone, he left a letter for all of us."

About two minutes later Makoto made her way into the kitchen with the other two. No one touched the letter out of fear of what the contents could be.

"You don't think we sent Ragna away?" Noel asked worriedly. "I mean we were all pretty forward in our dates."

"No!" Makoto exclaimed. "Ragna would've told us if we'd made him uncomfortable, right? And even if he didn't tell us he's horrible at keeping secrets!"

"Well he kept the secret about Hakumen from all of us," Bullet muttered. Seeing the other girls getting more worried she decided that it wasn't the best thing to say right now. "Let's just open the letter and read it, then we can deal with the problem."

"All right," Noel admitted as she just stood there and looked at the letter. Notice the other two girls glancing at he she became worried. "You want ME to read it?" Bullet and Makoto nodded. "Fine…" She opened the letter and began reading.

" _To the three greatest women I know_ ," Noel began. Well that's not a bad sign. " _These past few days have been by far the best in my life… which honestly isn't saying much because my life been one big, uh, shit…fest but they've been great. I've had a lot of fun with you three and you all mean a lot to me… but that's why I have to leave. I've got something lined up, kind of a special job I've been working on and trained by Hakumen for… Bullet, if you haven't told them yet I suggest you get on that."_ The silver-haired mercenary rolled her eyes. " _But… the thing about this job is… I probably…_ Won't be coming back?" Noel said completely shocked.

"Wait, what?!" Makoto exclaimed, Bullet couldn't even speak.

"He's written more," Noel said glancing over the letter. What she saw Ragna had written was painful to say, but she knew she had to. " _The only reason I'm bring this up to you three is that you all have two things in common. First, you clearly all mean something to me and I trust you all because of that. The second thing is… Three years ago, February 6th, September 17_ _th_ _, December 31_ _st_ _. I saved your lives on each of those days and now I'm collecting. You owe me so stay out of this… for everyone's sake. And Noel, Makoto? Get out of the NOL while you still have a chance. They're bad news… but so am I._

 _Ragna."_

As soon as Noel said that last word there was a bright flash of light and the letter and the envelope it came in were turned to ash. The three girls were silent, just staring at the remains of their letter with broken hearts. Ragna had been nothing but kind to them and he was the guy you could always go to for help, but hearing that he wasn't willing to give them the chance to pay him back was like twisting a dagger.

It was then that Noel's mobile phone rang. Hesitating for a moment she picked up the phone. "…H-Hello?"

"Noel it's me. Are you at the branch yet?"

"Clark? Uh… no, why would I be at the NOL office, I have the day off."

"Yeah, well we got a call in a few hours ago from the Branch. It was a level SS threat call, but I guess I must've missed it because I ignored the phone call."

"Wait, a level SS rank!?" Noel asked. "What did say?"

"Just to return to the branch, no details, no other instructions, they don't even tell us if we need to bring our weapons." Clark hesitated. "Any ideas?"

"I don't know…" Noel told him. "But the town hasn't gone on alert just yet." A thought formed in Noel's mind. "No… it couldn't be…"

"What couldn't be?" Clark asked.

"I'll go to the branch now Clark, don't worry I'll tell Harsk something to cover for you. Just spend Christmas with May alright?"

"Uh… okay? Thanks Noel."

Noel quickly hung up the phone before turning to the other girls. "I think Ragna could still be at the branch. He probably wanted to destroy it before leaving town. This is our best chance to find him."

"All right, but I'm kicking his ass for wanting to leave me behind," Bullet grunted.

"Ditto," Makoto agreed.

 _'_ _Is it wrong that I'm almost tempted to join them…'_ Noel thought to herself before glancing out the snowy streets of Kagutsuchi. Those streets were the same ones where she gave a certain red coated rouge her first kiss just last night. _'_ _Ragna… what are you really thinking right now?'_

 _Back to the fight_

 _'_ _ShitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitSHIT!'_ Ragna thought as he dodged yet another of Hakumen's **_Summer Advance_** moves. _'_ _That would've cut me in half! Doesn't he know that it's over if he kills me? This is supposed to be a test, not a full on war!'_ Hakumen then rushed Ragna was a wide slash, preparing to end the Reaper in a single slash. "OH SCREW IT!"

Ragna roared as he brought his katanas up to counter Hakumen's slash. The good news was he was able to deflect the blade enough so that it didn't hit him. The bad news? The shattering sound as both of his katanas were broken.

"You fail," was all Hakumen could say as he raised his blade above his head, knowing that Ragna couldn't possibly change weapons in time.

 ** _SHING!_**

"What!?" Hakumen could only shout as Ragna finished his slash. The weapon Ragna had used was broken katana in his right hand, but from the point where the blade had broken off a blade of unstable, black seither energy was emerging. _'_ _I don't remember teach him to use seither like that.'_ Hakumen thought to himself before he touched his mask. There was the tiniest of gashes on it, nothing that the armor couldn't regenerate, but still an actual mark.

"You might want to reevaluate that grade," Ragna told Hakumen before letting the blade of seither fade, leaving him with two hilts with little stubs of metal. "Aw man, I had to get these specially made and they didn't come cheap." Ragna threw the broken blades to the floor before looking at his master who'd kept staring at him. "What?"

"You're overconfident," Hakumen told him. "Far too overconfident."

"You're telling me this right after I managed to get a good hit in on you the second after you said I failed?" Ragna rubbed the back of his neck in annoyance. "Can't you ever give me a break?"

"If I did what would you do?"

"Probably call you an imposter and kick your ass," Ragna admitted. "So what are you doing now?"

"I'll have to leave this to you. What you face ahead, you face alone. I cannot interfere with what is about to take place. I was only here to ensure that you were ready."

"And if I wasn't?"

"You'd have died."

"Harsh," Ragna said with little care. "Hey kid." Platinum peaked her head from around a corner. "Good luck training with this monster. Hope he goes easier on you than he did with me."

"Um… yeah." Ragna started heading towards the elevator that would take him to the caldron. "H-Hey!"

"Hm?" Ragna turned his head to look at Platinum.

"I uh…" The young girl poked her fingers together nervously. "G-Good luck!"

"Uh… thanks," Ragna told her as he cricked his neck. "Time to smash this damn Library to the ground."

 **Author's Note: I don't own the series that this very late fanfiction is based off of.**

 **Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! I know how late this chapter is (albeit not as late as some of the other ones) and I know I should've let you know about the delay. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!**

 ***Whew* With that apology out of the way, let me review the reviews!**

 **Yuuki Terumi ouroboros master: Yeah, I had thought about a good way to torture Hakumen and having Platinum (Luna) with a Ragna plushy seemed to fit**

 **Animeandgamerlover2: *Grins* You might have an idea for another contestant (maybe), but I'm not sure how much larger I can make this.**

 **Blackace70: I feel like my fictions can inspire a LOT of different fan art. Now if I could just convince my artist friend to draw for me… Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the Christmas one and I hope you got a kick out of this one.**

 **KnightSpark: Darn, and I thought I'd set her up right so that you wouldn't care too much about her as Terumi slaughtered her… kind of a full circle kind of thing.**

 **General ironox: I know I'm evil, but I'm a FUN type of evil.**

 **TheFallenGeneral: …Didn't really think that far ahead… Bu I've seen parts of Central Fiction and an even more blood thirsty sage could be trouble.**

 **Guest: That certainly was one of my weirder chapters.**

 **Bunny153539: First off, how many 'bunny's are there on Fanfiction. Second, the Chocolate Curry comes from a manga series called** ** _Black Butler._** **I suggest you look it up. Third you'll get your answers, just sit tight until then.**

 **I know this chapter was a little shorter (again), but next one is going to be a BIG ONE! That's right, next up is an ARC FINALE! So until then Ciao!**


	11. CALAMITY

**_Just a quick note before I begin, Arc System's music has come under attack on YouTube due to copyright, so I'd suggest opening the song tabs first to make sure you have them without having a huge gap in the story. The songs are_** **Awakening the Chaos II** ** _(or whatever version you can get),_** **Worthless as the sun above the clouds** ** _(Guilty Gear 2), and_** **The Only Thing I know for Real** ** _(Metal Gear Rising). There's also going to be an epilogue after the author's note at the end so be sure to stay for that. With that said I present to you this Arc's concluding chapter._**

 _Fate X: CALAMITY_

Noel, Bullet, and Makoto ran through Kagutsuchi, heading towards the NOL library at the top of the mountain as fast as they could. Considering that Noel's apartment was located only in the residential district that was only located halfway up, they essentially had to run up the entire other half of the mountain and the snow made the journey even more tedious when they were constantly slowed by the ice patches that continued to bar their way.

Still, they were making progress; already the ladies had made the way to the Merchant district located a floor up. They all still hoped they'd be able to catch Ragna before he'd left after destroying the NOL branch, or so they speculated.

"This way," Noel told the other girls as she changed direction and proceeded down an alley way, "It's a shortcut; we'll make it to the branch quicker if we go through here."

"Let's hope so," Bullet said as she and Makoto followed Noel. "We're going to need to hurry if we're going to catch Ragna and kick his ass to make him see sense."

"Such a foul mouth," a young voice came out of nowhere. "I can see why you and that brute are friends."

The three girls came to a quick stop and looked around. While Noel and Makoto kept their NOL coats on, Bullet got into a battle ready stance. Looking around both ends of the alleyway they saw no one.

"If you'd send your gaze skyward you'd find me rather easily," the voice said. The girls did so and they found what appeared to be a young girl floating in midair. She slowly descended and landed in front of them, leaving the three gaping.

"W-who are you?" Noel could barely stutter out.

"Someone that understands your place far better than you do," Rachel said with a haughty smile. "I suppose I should start-"

"-By leaving us alone," Bullet interrupted as she began walking down the alley way. "I've got a job to take care of."

"That job was given to you by Hakumen, correct?" Rachel's words stopped the mercenary cold. "Yes, I was there when he made the decision to ask for your assistance, but as I've just seen it seems as though your services are no longer required."

"What do you mean 'no longer required?' Hakumen brought me on to help Ragna and that's what I'm going to do!"

"Foolish girl, Hakumen requested your skills because he thought that your skills would be enough to give Ragna an advantage in his upcoming battle, which will still take place, six days early or not. The fool of a hero will never admit it, but Ragna has exceeded his expectations in growth... I suppose the three of you can take pride in that fact; from what I understand it's partly thanks to you that it was possibility."

"Proud-shmoud, we're finding Ragna!" Makoto said with authority as she glared at the young vampiress.

Rachel gave a small giggle. "My dear Beastkin…" The sudden smell of roses was noticeable in the air as the entire surrounding changed. The girls looked around blank eyed at the large rose garden they were in and the magnificent mansion off in the distance. "... did you really think that decision was yours to make?"

 ** _The NOL Branch_**

 _'_ _Something very foul is at work here,'_ Hakumen thought after his first apprentice had begun his descent to Kagutsuchi's cauldron. _'I know Takamagahara would reset the system should I interfere, but I cannot help this discomforting feeling.'_

He was still with Platinum in the NOL headquarters lobby, waiting should Terumi decide to show himself. Hakumen knew that his traitor of an ex-comrade would very likely try to go after Platinum first, but he himself knew that her presence her would be required. It was unnerving for him to have his two apprentices fight his battles with him, but at same time he realized this is what he'd trained them so vigorously for.

"Hey master?" he heard his second apprentice address him. "Is there a reason that you never talk about Ragna?"

 _'_ _Far too many,'_ Hakumen thought to himself. In the end he decided to go with the tamest reason he could and lead with an obvious question. "If I had told you, how would you have felt?"

"I'd feel awesome!" Platinum said with vigor, surprising Hakumen more than a little. "If your training was able to turn Ragna the Bloodedge into the legend he is today I can't wait to see what I can do after it!"

'You… wouldn't be overwhelmed with self expectations?" Hakumen asked.

"Why would I be? I can take your training!" Platinum said proudly with a smile on her face.

 _'_ _This child,'_ Hakumen thought to himself before giving off that low rumble that was his chuckle. _'I suppose I shouldn't underestimate her light heartedness and energy.'_

"Master, don't try to laugh; it's creepy."

 _'_ _...Though I suppose her bluntness leaves something to be desired,'_ he thought to himself before noticing a strange presence. "Hm?"

There was an odd shimmer in front of the hallway Ragna had taken to get into the elevator that would take him the cauldron below Kagutsuchi. It appeared to be a barrier of some sort. Besides his line of sight, he couldn't sense anything beyond it.

"Seems that someone wants to ensure that we don't interfere," Hakumen noted before unsheathing his sword and approaching the barrier. " ** _EMPTY SKY-!_** " he began as he charged his sword with pale energy and Platinum dove for cover. " ** _SUMMER'S ADVANCE!_** "

The shockwave alone from the attack was devastating; tearing away at the ground behind him, taking huge chunks out of the wall, and sending objects flying back. The energy wave itself was raw, undisputed power and slammed into the barrier with force leagues beyond that of a point blank nuclear warhead… yet the barrier remained.

"It survived," Hakumen said to himself. ' _Terumi could not have created this, but then who? Takamagahara? Phantom? The Imperator? Either way, this does not bode well; if I cannot break this barrier I have doubts that the harlequin could observe past it._ '

"Master?" Platinum asked with uncertainty before she saw the barrier. "What do we do now?"

For a moment Hakumen said nothing and simply stared at the wall as he resheathed Okami. He remained silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts before addressing Platinum.

"Now we leave this to your so-called legend..."

 ** _Below Kagutsuchi (Cue Awakening the Chaos II)_**

"Bout damned time," Ragna grumbled to himself as the elevator doors finally opened after his long descent in the elevator. He stepped out and traversed the long hallway which took him to the Cauldron. As he stepped towards the edge the entrance to the Boundary opened and a strange device rose out from its depths. Ragna stood patiently as the device opened, revealing a girl with silver hair and a red eye patch.

"Loading… loading… loading…" the girl said a she stood still, about ten feet in front of Ragna. The Reaper didn't strike out at her; if this was going to come to a fight, he'd win his way and not by slaughtering her while her guard was down. Hakumen had taught to have pride as a warrior, and he'd keep his morals in his actions. "Load complete, Unit number 13: Nu… activated." The girl's good eye opened, which turned dreamy when she saw the man in front of her. "Ragna…"

The Grim Reaper said nothing in response.

"It's been such a long time since we've seen each other… I've missed you SO MUCH." He remained silent. "What's wrong, are you not happy to see Nu? I thought we could-"

"Cut the crap already," Ragna interrupted as he unslung _Blood-Scythe_ from his belt. "I don't want to waste my breath talking to you. You know why I'm here, let's get it over with."

"Aw, but Nu was hoping we could talk some more…" Nu said with a sad look on her face before it turned to a creepily excited one. "But if you want to skip the foreplay, Nu guesses we can jump right in." A giant sword was impaled into the ground behind Nu, send up a giant dust cloud that blocked Ragna's vision of the girl. When the dust cleared the sword was gone and Nu was equipped in her silver battle armor equipped with floating wing arranged blades. "Come on Ragna, let's play!"

Nu created a portal behind Ragna, and a red sword emerged and went soaring towards Ragna's back. The Reaper ducked to the side to avoid the sword, and Nu used that time to send her wing blades out at Ragna, which he barely managed to guard against. Nu rushed forward towards Ragna as the blades returned to her and used to make a massive swipe. Hr jumped into the air to dodge the attack and Nu laughed as she created a massive portal like the one earlier, only this one sent out countless swords out at the Reaper. Ragna quickly switched out his sword for his submachine gun in his left hand and his shotgun in his right. sending a steady stream with the former and buckshot after buckshot with the later, effectively destroying the swords.

When he landed, Ragna continued to fire his submachine gun at Nu, but the Murakumo unit weaved back and forth to avoid the bullets, almost like she was moving faster than them. While he was barely keeping her at bay, Ragna switched his shotgun out for his sword to combat Nu as she closed the distance between the two and attacked once more with her petal blades.

Ragna countered her swing with one of his own and followed up by blasting his gun at close range. Nu was unable to dodge this attack but the stream didn't seem to do much more than send her off guard. Ragna used the opportunity to slash Nu and managed to deal some significant damage to her torso, but the Murakumo unit wasn't finished yet. Ragna put his minigun away, and prepared himself for what Nu had planned next.

"Aw Ragna, you big beast," Nu said happily as she sent a giant bladed wheel spinning on the ground. Ragna managed to swing his sword and crushed the attack, but as soon as he did he noticed that his entire body felt heavier. Seeing the Ars Magus circle on the ground, it looked like Nu had put him in some sort of slow field. Noticing the sudden shadow around him Ragna managed to bring his sword up and block the giant blade that was summoned, but unlike the other's this blade didn't dispel and Ragna was forced to fight back to avoid becoming crushed.

"Why are you fighting so hard?" Nu asked as Ragna continued to push back against the limiting blade. "Ragna, we're meant to be together. Nu… never wants to be without you..." Nu then rushed forward after sending her bladed petals toward her Ragna-senpai. "Come be with me Ragna!" she cried out, almost in desperation.

Ragna gritted his teeth as he attempted to hold the blade back with only his left arm while enduring impalement from several petal blades in his torso. He then poured energy into the BlazBlue. When the blade was just about to crush him and Nu was right next to him, he roared as he activated his Barrier Burst, sending out a wave of green energy that crushed the blade holding him down and sent Nu flying back. While she was dazed he immediately leapt into the air as his sword turned into its scythe mode and roared as he brought it down on the dazed Murakumo unit.

(End theme)

Nu screamed as her armor and wings fell to the ground around her, leaving her in only her light grey jumpsuit. Ragna retracted his weapon back into its sword form and brought it down in a violent arc that would take Nu's head off. Nu grimaced and closed her eye as she sat there, completely defenseless, but the attack never came. She slowly opened her eye and saw that Ragna was holding the blade mere inches from her face, but the look on his face seemed more annoyed than enraged.

"You really are a pain in my ass, you know that?" Ragna said with an irritated huff as he started pulling the blades out of himself, grimacing only slightly at the pain "Just stay the hell out of my way, I've got a cauldron to break." As Ragna moved the blade away from her, he saw this girl staring at him in complete fear. He sighed to himself, his conscious riddled with guilt even after she'd just tried to kill him. "... Hey, just wait here and… we'll talk after I'm finished, alright?"

She didn't say anything and merely nodded her head, but Ragna took that as a sign that she at least understood not to kill him. He headed to the cauldron and raised the sword over his head and channeled his BlazBlue's energy into the weapon. That was when he heard Nu scream from behind him.

Nu's petals had reactivated and were stabbing into the girl berserkley, each blow creating a spray of crimson blood to rush from her body. Her face no longer contained the pleasurable sadism that she had possessed during their fight, now it was twisted in agony as her own armor continued to butcher her.

"STOP IT!" Ragna yelled hopelessly as he was about to run forward, but then visions started painfully appearing in his head, immobilizing him and forcing him to fall to a knee. The images were ones he knew only too well; this was what he saw when his church burned to the ground, the moment he lost his arm, when the Matron had been killed. He couldn't move, only see as his vision phased from watching a terrible vision of the past, to Nu getting stabbed, to another vision.

 ** _'_** ** _...c..n't….v…'_** A voice said inside his mind while Ragna's vision was completely distorted.

 _'_ _what...?'_

 ** _'_** ** _...an't….s..…'_** it said again, now showing blurs in front of a roaring fire.

 _'_ _No… Not that memory! S-STOP IT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN!'_

 ** _'_** ** _You can't save anyone... you never can… and you never will...'_** Now the image was clear, Jin and Saya standing in front of the burning church as Ragna lay on the ground, bleeding out of the place where his arm used to be as a green spectral form laughed and mocked Ragna's fear and timidity.

The Reaper let out a scream of anguish as the blades finished impaling the now dead Murakumo unit and carried the body back into the Cauldron where it would fall into the Boundary, never to be found again. The Cauldron surged with power as the Murakumo unit passed into the other realm.

"DAMN IT!" Ragna roared in agony as he punched the floor with enough force to create a small crater. "She didn't need to die! I was letting her live!"

Another surge of power was emitted from the cauldron, Ragna turned around in disgust as a single shadow leapt from within the Boundary itself and landed in front of him with enough power to crack the concrete beneath it. Under any other circumstances Ragna might've gasped at the thing's appearance, but right now he was far too pissed to care.

(Cue Guilty Gear 2 Overture _Worthless as the sun above the Clouds_ )

The monster was complete clad in black armor that resembled Hakumen's, however it was slightly shorter and its ponytail was blonde as opposed to silver and had red stains that looked like it might've been blood. It had broken pieces of crystal emerging from its body, and talons on each of its fingers make of a dark metal that looked like it'd been grafted into the hands. The creature stood slightly crouched over, like it was some kind of feral animal.

"Are you the bastard that did that to her?" Ragna asked aggressively as he picked up _Blood-Scythe_. It's only response was an inhuman roar scream as it launched itself at Ragna with talons extended. "Fine! I didn't feel like talking anyways!" Ragna roared as he met the creatures charge.

The clash of sword and claws created a storm of sparks before rushed forward and caught the monster in its mask with a devastating right hook to its helmet, blasting the figure several feet back. " ** _Hell's-!_** " Ragna shouted as he lunged forward with his seither coated arm and stuck the creature again in his mask. " ** _FANG!_** " he followed up with a wave of darkness which slammed against his opponent, though the armor proved to be fairly thick.

The creature didn't seem to register the attack as it countered with its right claws, which Ragna barely managed to parry, but then it's left claw made its way under Ragna's guard and slashed him across the chest. The Reaper grunted and tried to counter with a roundhouse kick, but the enigma dodged the unusually sluggish attack while slashing across Ragna's leg. As Ragna grunted from the pain, an Ars Magus circle appeared in front of him and blasted him back with dark energy.

Ragna was sent flying across the entire Cauldron and slammed into the wall with enough force to create a shallow indent. It was fortunate that Ragna had managed to keep a hold of _Blood-Scythe_ because his opponent leapt the entire distance in a single bound with its claws ready. The Reaper put up an Ars Magus barrier in front of him, but as soon as he did it started fizzing out.

 _'_ _What the hell!?'_ Ragna thought in annoyance as the creature destroyed the pitiful shield in a single swipe of its claws. _'SHIT!'_ Ragna rolled to the side to avoid the creature's next attack, good thing too as it impaled the stop on the wall where his head would have been. Ranga quickly made his way to his feet before grabbing out his shotgun and sending out a single blast to the creatures back.

 _'_ _My body feels heavy and my Ars Magus didn't do crap. Damn it! I've been through worse than this! Just what the hell are those claws?!_ ' Ragna managed to use his sword and deflect another one of the creature's impalement attacks. _'It's wearing off… but I can't move at full capacity after I get hit, so I gotta destroy those claws first!'_

The creature leapt into air to perform and aerial attack on Ragna, but the Reaper swung his sword skywards and met it with an **_Infernal Divider._** After sword and claws once again clashed the monster prepared itself to strike Ragna with another claw slash, but this time Ragna was ready. He violently struck the creature's mask with the shotgun he held in his left hand before firing a blast point blank sending it flying backwards. Before Ragna landed he put his shotgun back on his weapon belt and charged his seither into his sword.

" ** _Dead Spike!_** " Ragna shouted as he sent out a surge of darkness in the shape of one of the black beast's heads. His opponent would need to guard against the attack since it wouldn't be able to dodge after just landing, which would set Ragna up for the combo he needed to win. Ragna charged seither throughout his entire body to active _Rapid Cancel_ , before leaping into the air and pouring a huge amount of energy into his sword. He roared as he brought the sword down on the still guarding creature, who managed to guard against the attack, but at the cost of its weapons.

The creature slid back a few feet as it's claws shattered to pieces and fell to the floor around the two. "IT'S OVER! **_CARNAGE SCISSORS!_** " Ragna roared as he lunged forward at the weaponless monster to finish it off.

 ** _CLANG!_**

It took Ragna a moment to realize what he'd struck; a pillar of ice that had formed right in front of the creature. The ice shattered revealing inside a katana with an azure blue scabbard: Mucro Algesco _Yukianesa._ The creature then grabbed the sword by the scabbard in his left hand and drew the blade with its right which emitted an odd mist.

 _'_ _Wait, that's the same sword from when I got my arm got cut off! Does that mean...?'_

 ** _Flashback (End theme)_**

 _"_ _OW!" the blonde youth said as he gripped his bloody leg._

 _"_ _C'mon, it's just a scrape, it doesn't even look that bad," Ragna told his little brother before applying some hastily made ointment to the wound._

" _It hurts brother!" he cried out as Ragna continued to apply the medicine._

 _Ragna smirked. "Well that's how you can tell it's working, can't risk you getting infected right? What were you doing trying to slide down the hill anyways? You were holding our laundry.'_

 _"_ _I was just trying to keep up with you," the injured one said told him somewhat embarrassedly._

 _"_ _Hey, if I'm running too fast for you let me know next time," Ragna told him as he finished applying the ointment. "There, can you walk?" His younger brother tried to stand, but gritted his teeth in pain. "Guess not, well guess there's nothing else for it." Ragna helped his brother up and started carrying him to the church piggy back style. "I'll just come back for the clothes later."_

 _"_ _Sorry," the younger one said to his elder._

 _"_ _Don't worry about it," Ragna said dismissively as he continued to walk. "Let's get you home."_

 ** _End Flashback_**

Ragna could only stare at the creature in front of him. "...Jin? What the hell did they do to you!?"

"J...in…?" the creature slowly repeated with a horribly rasped voice. Even with as tortured as it sounded, Ragna could still recognize his younger brother's voice. "...Jin…"

"That's right, it's your name! Remember it!" _'Come on, I don't know what those NOL bastards did to him, but he's still got to be in there somewhere…'_

'...Jin," it repeated again. "Rag… na... bro...ther…"

 _'_ _He starting to remember...'_ "Yeah," Ragna said, lowering his sword, "I'm your older brother."

"Brother…" Jin slowly repeated again before grunting as he gripped his helmet and shuddered as if it was in pain. "Brother. Brother! BROTHER! **_BROTHER!_** "

(Cue _The Only thing I know for Real_ )

Jin viciously slashed at Ragna with his katana blade and the Grim Reaper barely managed to block the attack and hold the blade back. "DARK ONE! DESTROYER! KILL! KILL YOU! KILL YOU! KILLYOUKILLYOUKILLYOUKILLYOUKILLYOU!"

As the air around Ragna got significantly colder he reflexively jumped back, just in time to dodge the eruption of ice that would have frozen him solid. While he was in midair Jin sent a blade made out of ice his way. Ragna managed to cut the projectile in half, but round two was just getting started.

"Tch, looks like I'm going to have to beat some sense into ya," Ragna grunted after he landed. He noticed Jin riding on an icicle towards him and blocked against it, but the attack still forced him back slightly. Jin then jumped off the _Ice Car_ , and slashed at Ragna who again block the attack with his sword, but then large portions of ice started covering it. Ragna roared as he forced Jin back before slamming his fist into the black mask as hard as he could.

"WAKE UP ALREADY!" Ragna shouted as before he followed up by uppercutting his opponent into the air. " ** _Gauntlet Hades!_** " He spun into an axe kick that landed in Jin's chest followed by a spin kick that sent him further into the air. Ragna performed a powerful swing with the blunt end of _Blood-Scythe_ that sent his brother flying.

Jin managed to regain his footing as Ragna rushed forward with another **_Hell's Fang_** attack. Jin summoned a barrier and blocked the attack before retaliating and summoning another wall of ice. Ragna backstepped to avoid the attack, before noticing the sword of ice that was emerging out of the ground behind him. Ragna leapt into the air, barely managing to dodge before Jin's third attack broke through his first; a barrage of arrow shaped icicles. The Grim Reaper desperately guarded as best as he could with his sword, but there were just too many and several of them cut through the Reaper's sides.

As Ragna landed Jin sent out a sub-zero Ars Magus splash of cold which he barely managed to guard against with a hastily created barrier. Ragna noticed that all of the attacks Jin was using was starting to have a strain on Jin's body, already it was starting to shudder in pain. As Ragna ran forward to take advantage of the opportunity, Jin created yet another ice sword to fly at the Reaper, but this one formed much too slow. Ragna smacked the partially formed projectile and sent it spinning at his brother before rushing forward with a darkness covered fist and sending Jin flying back.

"Guh!" Jin grunted as he rolled on the floor before slowly getting up. "Bro… ther…You…" he dropped Yukianesa and gripped his helmet in pain. "ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!"

 _'_ _I have to end this now! Maybe if I can just destroy that armor!_ ' Ragna thought to himself in desperation before rushing forward with _Blood-Scythe_ drawn. Ragna roared as he swung his sword a Jin's face. He didn't even feel any resistance he destroyed the helmet and his brother's mask shattered to the ground around him. For a moment he thought that the worst was over… but then he saw his brother's face.

 _(End theme_ )

Horrible stitches covered Jin's entire face, like he'd been opened up experimented on and then half-assedly put back together. Bits of crystal were also emerging from over his face and one of the larger pieces appeared be impaled through his left temple. His skin was so pale Ragna had to remind himself that he was looking at his brother and not a ghost from his past. His eyes were both horribly bloodshot and it didn't appear that he could blink.

"Good god…" Ragna could barely say in his despair. "What the hell was Terumi trying to do to you?"

"Brother…" Jin said, the malice and bloodlust from earlier gone. "... Are you going to… kill me?"

"What? Jin what are you sayin'?"

"Look at me," Jin said as he observed his own hands in despair. "I'm a monster…" Tears started flowing down the young man's face. "Oh yeah, I cut your arm off too… and I let that demon kill our…" He gripped his hands in hopelessness and screamed. "How the hell am I supposed to go on like this?!"

Ragna said nothing as he looked at his brother. During his adventures when he thought about Jin he was always reminded of when he'd cut his arm and the beating he was going to give him when the two would finally meet, but now Jin was right in front of him looking like he'd been through far worse than he had. Ragna had lost his arm, his home, and his family, but at least he had his master and his friends to support him. Jin most likely didn't even have that much and had to go through hideous experiments.

"...Don't worry about," Ragna told his brother, shocking Jin. "Hey, I might not have the answers now, but you're going to be alright. I promise."

"But brother, how can you say that!? You know what I've done, what I look like! and in the Ikaruga Civil War I-!" Jin faltered. "Oh my god, I can still hear the screams!"

"So they made you part of that massacre…" Ragna said darkly, his rage growing. "Hey Jin," he put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. Jin looked at his brother with tear filled eyes. Ragna gave his brother an assuring smile. " _Let's get you home._ "

Jin's eyes became even more filled with tears as he stared at Ragna. "Brother…" In that next instant Ragna was violently shoved away by his brother. At first Ragna thought that it was just a matter of Jin facing his demons…

...but then he watched his younger brother get impaled in his chest, more specifically where his heart was.

Ragna's eyes widened as he watched his brother painfully cough up blood. Before he could react the odd weapon retracted and blood sprayed everywhere, coating Ragna in his own brother's crimson liquid. Jin slowly fell to the floor, and Ragna could see him smiling; he'd saved Ragna's life.

"Jin!" Ragna screamed as he dropped _Blood-Scythe_ and rushed forward to his downed brother and held him in his arms. He charged his _BlazBlue_ and tried pouring energy into Jin, anything he could do to keep his younger brother alive. Not only did Jin's body not react, it looked like his body was rejecting the vain attempt to heal him. Jin slowly reached up and touched Ragna's face with his left and he looked into his brother's eyes and spoke one last time.

" _...Sorry… ragna… better... off… with… out...m...e..._ "

Then Jin's head slumped to the side, a blank and faraway look in his eyes as he let out his last breath… and died in his brother's arms.

" ** _JIN!_** " Ragna cried in rage. " ** _DAMN IT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU DIE FOR ME!? WHY!?'_**

 _(Cue UNDERTALE_ _ **MEGALOVANIA**_ _)_

"Aww… does little Raggy wanna cry? Does he? 'Course he does. Go on, CRY FOR ME!"

Ragna recognized that voice. He slowly put his brother on the ground and looked to where the attack had come from and saw the man responsible for everything. Losing his right arm, his traumatizing fear of ghost, the death of the woman taking care of him and the abduction of Saya… and now the slaughter of his own brother.

"So… how's the right arm treating you?" the man asked with a shit eating grin as he lifted his hat slightly to look at Ragna with his yellow eyes. "Oh right, I kind of butchered it… just like your little brother there." The man shrugged with a smile and held his hands out to his with the palms facing up and began to sing. " _It's a small world after all~_ "

" ** _TERUMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!_** " Ragna shouted with indescribable rage as he grabbed his sword off the ground and rushed towards the green haired man. The murderer merely smiled as he grabbed a set of knives out of his pocket and threw them at Ragna. The Reaper managed to block the attack as he approached Terumi and swung his blade with the intent of taking the green man's head off.

Terumi simply smiled as he leaned back and dodged the blade by a hair's breath. When Ragna brought the blade back for a second strike, he jumped back to avoid it with ease. "Yep, Terumi! That's my name… well when I'm not going by Hazama, but you know; too much trouble to remember _every_ name." Ragna brought his sword down in another powerful arc and the ground where Terumi had been standing mere moments before became horribly cracked. The mad man then tapped his chin, faking deep thought. "What was the name of the guy I just killed again? Jack? Jasper? ...Ringo?"

"SHUT UP!" Ragna roared as he flew forward with another **_Hell's Fang_** attack, but Hazama's arm shot out and caught the fist easily. "What the-!?" Ragna started in surprise before grunting as he was pulled closer and kneed in the gut. As Ragna lurched, Hazama coated his foot in green energy and brought into upon Ragna's head with enough force to slam his body to the floor. The Grim Reaper tried to get off the ground, but Terumi's foot planted on his head held him painfully in place. Terumi gave a small maniacal giggle before drop kicking Ragna's face with his other foot sending him flying back. Ragna coughed up blood after he was imbedded in the wall for the second time.

"Whoa there tiger!" Hazama said with his usual shit-eating charm. "You keep acting like that and I actually might have to start fighting more seriously. I mean, c'mon what was the big deal anyways? So I killed your brother, hell he was going to kill you anyways! I mean did you LOOK at that monster!? Hideous!" Ragna was shaking with both rage and pain as he slowly made his way out of the wall's crevice and fell to the floor. "And that Murakumo unit? Pfft, I HAD to off her; _oh Ragna this, oh Ragna that_ … IT WAS HELL TO WATCH DAMNIT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW ANNOYING THAT GETS!" Hazama took a deep breath as he readjusted his hat. "But that's beside the point, I thought you'd thank me for being able to watch a little reverse of roles C'mon, be a sport and say-"

" ** _I'LL MURDER YOU!_** " Ragna shouted as he lunged with **_Blood-Scythe_** again.

"I wanted to say 'thank you',' Hazama said in fake sorrow while he feigned wiping tears away. The Intelligence Captain nimbly dodged the attack and spun to get to behind Ragna, kicking the Grim Reaper in the back and sending him forward a few feet. "Aw you're way too predic-!"

He hadn't seen Ragna pull out his Ars Magus shotgun as he'd been kick away, so the sudden buckshot came as a surprise to him. He managed to avoid being hit by the actual blast, but his hat got a few holes in it as a result and was knocked off his head.

" ** _YOU KILLED MY HAT!_** " Hazama roared as he sent an Ouroboros chain at Ragna. The Grim Reaper tried blasting the attack with his shotgun, but it didn't even slow down the attack. He then deflected the attack with his sword, but head kept coming for it. Ragna managed to succeed in bringing his blade down on the head and disrupted the attack, but then Terumi created a second flung it at Ragna, cutting across his chest and drawing a steady stream of blood. Ragna tried to cut into the second chain, but Terumi reacted his weapon and let it float around him.

"C'mon you shit head puppy," Hazama said with poison as his hair started to lose its slicked back look and began standing up. " ** _MAKE. MY. DAY._** "

"I'm gonna end you, right here and now!" Ragna shouted as he charged at his tormentor. Hazama responded in kind by sending another chain at Ragna. The Reaper responded by knocking the attack away and charging straight towards his opponent. Hazama stood emotionlessly as Ragna leapt into the air with **_Blood-Scythe_** transforming into scythe mode. Terumi could strike him through the heart for a he cared, he was going to cut him in half if it killed him.

"Really? That's your best?" Hazama asked shaking his head as he flicked a hand that was glowing with green Ars magus. As Ragna got closer he saw Hazama's so called shield; his own brother's body, again impaled by an Ouroboros chain. His eyes grew wide and his blade's decent slowed. Behind the body Terumi smirked. " _Idiot_ ," then kicking the body into Ragna, attacking him with his own brother's body.

Ragna was unable to react with Jin slammed up himself, leaving him wide open. " ** _SERPENT'S INFERNAL RAPTURE!_** " Despite the initial contact going through Jin's back, Ragna's gut felt the full force of the kick and was sent flying into the ceiling. "Not done yet little Raggy!" He sent a chain at Ragna which slashed against the Reaper again. " ** _HUNGRY COILS!_** " Ragna was grabbed out of mid air by a second chain and sent flying through air as whipped him back into a wall. He grunted and painfully coughed up blood before slowly sliding down the wall to the ground. His entire body burned as he slowly tried to prop himself up from the wall with little result.

' _D-damn it…'_ Ragna groaned to himself. _'I've gotta beat him I've got to…_ ' his thoughts stopped as he cried out in pain. Hazama had impaled his knives into Ragna's torso, drawing even more blood from the Reaper. Ragna couldn't move as Terumi created long jade spikes using his Ars magus and impaled them in the Reaper's torso, effectively pinning him to the wall causing Ragna to scream in pain.

 ** _End Theme_**

"BOR-RING!" Terumi cheered loudly as he gave Ragna a thumbs down. "Aw man Raggy, you really know how to kill a good mood. Didn't Hakumen teach you anything?" Ragna could only grit his teeth as he stared at Terumi in hatred, unable to speak. "Kinda curious why you didn't try and go all Azure on me… wait did ol' Haku tell you about S.O.L.? And I mean my BlazBlue code by the way, not the description of your entire life."

"Sh-shuddup…" Ragna growled as best he could. "I'll…"

"You'll what?" Hazama said with a grin has got right in Ragna's face. "C'mon puppy, what do you want to do to your uncle Hazzy?"

Ragna didn't really know when to quit, when to keep quiet, when not to do things that would likely get him killed. He didn't care. Spitting his own blood in the bastard's face felt amazing, especially when being flinched away. If Ragna wasn't in constant pain he might've chuckle before slapped in the head with enough force that it would've taken a lesser man's head off.

"Rude little turd…" Hazama grumbled before sending out an Ouroboros chain and grabbing his hat back with one hand while wiping the blood off his face with another. He held his favorite fashion statement in his hands for a moment, observing the holes Ragna had put in it. "Well I guess you can be proud that you managed to hit to piece of fabric on top of my head. It is progress…" There was a jade green glow around the hat as it was repaired by Ars Magus, the hole disappearing before Ragna's eyes. "Presto! Progress gone."

Hazama smirked and put the hat back on his head as Ragna stared at him with gritted teeth. "You… sadistic… bastard…" he said before coughing.

"Oh save the drama for latter Raggy, that's not going to kill you," Hazama said before using the Ouroboros chain once again, this time using it to retrieve Jin's katana blade and bring it to his hand. "This, however, might!" he shouted as he raised the blade.

Ragna grimaced as he shut his eyes and waited for the final blow to take his life and finally end it. _'Damn it… I finally make it to your shit fest Terumi… but it's not enough… I got my little brother killed… guess this is it…'_ He heard the blade cut through the air and flinched, but the final blow never came. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the sadist overlooking him with an evil smile.

"PSYCHE!" Hazama shouted before smashing the katana hilt into Ragna's throat. Ragna lurched forward and started choking on his own breath. "I'm not going to kill you idiot!? I'm having way too much fun for that!" Terumi stabbed the sword into the ground between the two. "I'll let you keep this as a little reminder: **I LET YOU LIVE**." Ragna's rage was overflowing as Hazama rolled his sleeve back to check his watch. "Love to stay and chat more Rags, but I'm afraid I've got to get going. Big plans coming up, big plans. Hope you'll be there to see." Ragna gritted his teeth and tried with all of his might to get up or activate his BlazBlue, but with the stakes still impaled in him and his body drained of any energy, it was impossible. "Aw, you want to come with me? That is just adorable, but I'm afraid I have to leave you here. But don't worry, you'll have company. Think of it as… _my Christmas gift to you._ "

The following events I can't describe to you, but the end result was absolutely hellish. As the madman finally vanished from Ragna's sight with sickening laughter, he could only stare in front of him, at his brother's mutilated figure impaled to a pillar by the same jade green spikes holding him down, his eye remaining unshut as his limp head rest on his shoulder and looked at Ragna… but the worst part with the two spikes that Hazama had impaled into his cheeks, forcing him into a demonic smile.

Ragna's screams echoed throughout the entire underground, but these agonizing yells couldn't scratch the surface of the rage and pain he felt inside his soul.

 ** _Takamagahara_**

"This is far outside our original parameters, much too far," TA said to his colleagues. "I had expected some change when the white Susanooh decided to train Ragna the Bloodedge instead of outright slay him, but Yuki Terumi's activity is much more vicious than before."

"Indeed," TC agreed. "Directly confronting Ragna the Bloodedge this early on was only given a 14% chance of occurrence, but actually fighting the Grim Reaper to this degree was less than one percent. It may be possible that we could be dealing with a Terumi that is not the same as the one in the original timeline."

"Or he could have knowledge of that timeline," TB noted. "Though the gift itself seems strange, all of the memories; ours, Rachel Alucard's, the Six Hero's, and assumedly Terumi's, they only exist to the point of the calamity trigger, to this point… We should be cautious though, no doubt Terumi has something planned."

"Agreed, which is why I've constantly observed the snake's actions. His plans seem to have-" TA was cut off in surprise. "Unthinkable! What's he trying to accomplish?!"

"He's attempting to enter by force? Shouldn't he realize the foolishness of such endeavors, our defenses are leagues above what he could ever be capable of."

As soon as TC finished speaking, space itself between the chairs began to crack as the intruder quickly overwhelmed the defenses. The entire area of nothingness began to rumble as the cracks increased.

"This is impossible!" TB shouted before space itself shattered.

" ** _HEEEEEEEERE'S TERUMI!"_** the black and green spectral being shouted from the center of the circle.

"How the hell did you get in here!?" TA demanded. If anything, the ghost's smiles on seemed to get bigger.

"What, no offer to take my coat (though I don't actually have it now)? No offer for drinks? No 'hey Terumi, sorry for screwing with you so much. Please forgive us, I don't want to die?' Yeesh, you guys are dull… Anyways I got in the best way, through the front door."

"It should have been impossible for you to break through our defenses!" TB yelled.

"Aw, 'Silly Takamagahara, Impossible's for morons!' I've got magic on my side and… well let's just say that little Raggy played a BIG part in getting me here. Honestly, I don't know just HOW I'm going to thank him… Maybe I'll off that little bloodsucker and force him to look at her corpse for a few years."

"How are you suggesting you got here?" TC asked coolly with her more automated nature.

"Looks like someone's not keeping up!" Terumi laughed. "Raggy's hatred is what's keeping yours truly in this world of endless possible bullshit! The more hatred, the easier I exist, the more power I get! Don't you get it? I don't need you or Kusanagi observing me to exist anymore, now all I need is HIM TO HATE ME!"

"But that couldn't have brought you here," TC denied. "The level of hatred you'd have to receive are impossible for any individual to-" She was cut off with Terumi's laughter.

" ** _DID YOU REALLY THINK I MURDERED HIS OWN BROTHER IN FRONT OF HIM JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT!?_** " Terumi shouted at the top of his lungs. "Well… it was fun, not gonna deny it, but I always have another objective to it. That's the problem with you asshats in your seats, you're never willing think creatively. Plus, you don't know human emotions. I know them inside in out, I know exactly which buttons to press to get what I want."

Terumi's raised his arms as Phantom teleported in above him. " ** _AND WHAT I WANT NOW IS FOR YOU ALL TO GO TO HELL!_** " Phantom's purple spell coated the entire room, and when it was gone the shadows had disappeared. Terumi laughed for himself. "Don't worry, I'll take GOOOOOOD care of everything while you're gone! This pathetic lie of a world's going to burn to the ground and I'll be the one to start the fire!"

Terumi and Phantom vanished, leaving the three chairs standing by themselves. The end was approaching and Terumi's true designs were about to come into motion. The world was beginning to spiral into a new direction; towards such destruction that the _Dark War_ would look little more than a child's game. And that's all this was to Terumi… just another game.

 _Calamity Trigger -END-_

 **Author's Note:** **I don't own BlazBlue or the accompanying music. STAY TUNED FOR EPILOGUE AFTER THE AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

 **Small FYI. I know that Megalovania wasn't in the List at the beginning, but I did include their just so I could throw a bit of a screwball.**

 **And that ladies and gents is how I end a story ARC. This chapter took me a full two weeks to get out, so I hope it was worth it in the end. I wanted to focus on making this as good of a chapter as I could have instead of relying on getting it out first thing, so I took my time with this. Hope it shows, now time for the reviews.**

 **Shadowedge27: A BB x DMC does sound appealing, but I've already got quite a few projects going.**

 **Yuuki Terumi Ouroboros Master: Thanks for waiting, yeesh this chapter took a long time.**

 **Animeandgamerlover2: I'll get to those stories soon, I promise. But as to how many girls? …I really don't know.**

 **Blackace70: As a general tip, have Konoe be the main focus, but be sure you don't completely disregard the original cast. A large part of the story should be the interactions she has with others.**

 **General ironox: Sorry, Ragna was a little too… pissed to do the intro.**

 **Hudson Yang: I just do a few interesting concepts, let ARC do what they want.**

 **Marconator360: Yeah, when Ragna has to explain himself he'll be in some hot water for sure.**

 **Paladin9800: Well they TRIED… leave to Rachel to make things a little complicated.**

 **Shirosaki Kizuro: I'm not sure if I'm going to have Haku at max, but he's certainly more powerful than he originally was.**

 **It's been awesome writing this story for you guys! I'll see you around for the second Arc. Until then, Storm VII signing off!**

 **Ciao!**

A young redheaded woman walked the hallways of the NOL branch, passing by the occasional soldier who glanced at her before quickly looking away. She was already used to such actions, a life in the Zero Squadron almost guaranteed that her colleagues would fear her for the work she did. In fact if it wasn't for her position as one of the children of the Duodecim, she'd very likely been thrown insults or another form of scorn.

Eventually the young woman made it to the office she'd been asked to find. She steeled herself with a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Captain Hazama, First Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi reporting. May I come in?" There was silence on the offer side, so Tsubaki waited for a moment before trying again. "Captain?"

The door opened revealing Hazama. "My apologizes miss Yayoi, I seem to have forgotten about the Ars Magus sound barriers I've had to put up to keep sound from going out of my office. Desperate times and all of that, but please come inside."

"Thank you," Tsubaki said politely as she entered.

"I'm sorry to have had to call you in on Christmas of all day, but this task is very crucial I'm afraid. No rest for the weary in the NOL I suppose," Hazama said laxly as he closed the door and walked back to his desk.

"If the threat is as important as you claimed in your message then the orders from the Imperator comes first. I can wait to spend the time I want with my family once her will is completed."

"Well then," Terumi said with a small smile. "I suppose I'll let you soldier on then." He picked up a yellow folder from his desk and dispelled the arms magus container around it. Now I should have you know that this order comes directly from the Imperator, even bearing her official seal. I should also let you know that certain… factions might not agree if they were to know that we were involved, so I'm going to have to ask you to be discrete in your mission."

"I understand," Tsubaki told him, internally wishing that Hazama would just get to the point and explain what was so important that she'd had to miss a dinner with her family. "And my mission?"

"First Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi," Hazama began with more authority as he read from the papers. "Your mission is to take place in the Thirteenth Hierarchical city of Kagutsuchi. Your objective is to locate and eliminate Ragna the Bloodedge."

"What?" Tsubaki asked with wide eyes. "I'm to eliminate the Grim Reaper?"

"Hey, that's what the orders say, I'm just the messenger remember?" Hazama defended. "Do you by chance know this bounty hunter personally?"

"I don't, but I've heard a lot about him from No- from two very close friends of mine."

"You don't say," Hazama said with uninterest. "Well that's unfortunate. I guess your first meeting with the man you've heard so much about will be your last."

"Captain…" Tsubaki started with uncertainty. "Why does the NOL care about this man's execution? Hasn't he aided the Library with some of the bounties he's hunted?"

"Well…" Hazama scanned over the documents in the folder before coming to one he wanted. "I suppose this should spell it out for you."

He handed the picture to Tsubaki, who took one look at it and had to fight back a horrified scream. There was Ragna the Bloodedge with his sword drawn as he appeared to be advancing toward her childhood friend who was like a brother to her, Jin Kisaragi. Jin's body was looked like it was horribly mutated and his eyes appeared to be in agony as his chest was erupting with blood.

"This picture's given us reason to believe that Ragna the Bloodedge is quite possibly be responsible for the ex-Major's disappearance after the Ikaruga Civil war. From what we can confirm it appears that Ragna's been responsible for both capturing the young major and torturing him for years. It also seems that Kisaragi managed to eventually escape his captor and fled to Kagutsuchi, but it seems as though Ragna managed to catch up with his victim and um… silence him. He may also be responsible for the string of Branch destructions up to this point, but…" Hazama noticed Tsubaki was only staring at the photo. "Are you alright Miss Yayoi?"

"I-I'm fine," Tsubaki stuttered trying to contain herself as she handed to the picture back to the Intelligence Department Captain. "I'll depart immediately."

"Very well then, and good luck Lieutenant. Ragna's proven to be pretty formidable in the past. I hope you can appreciate that and not… lose your head." But Tsubaki didn't appear to have heard him as she left his office, almost seeming to be in a daze.

Outside the office, Tsubaki walked down the hallway. She tried to push the image she'd just seen out of her head, but she couldn't. After the Ikaruga Civil War had ended, she'd used any time she wasn't currently on a job to search for Jin, but now she'd gotten the news; he was dead and had been tortured for years. She tried to contain herself as she thought about prior memories, meeting each other as children and becoming friends, studying with each other at the academy, even being one of the few people that could actually get him to laugh… but then she remembered the picture; those days were gone and Jin with them. She couldn't hold back anymore; she let out a scream and began sobbing as she leaned against the wall and cried into her hands.

Back in his office, as Terumi heard all of this he gave an evil smile before chuckling. "Aw, looks like she's heartbroken. I almost feel bad for her... **_OH WHO THE HELL AM I KIDDING!? I LOVE MY JOB!_** **_HeheheheheHEHEHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_**

 _NEXT ARC: The Rise of the Grim Reaper_


	12. Arc II: Prologue

_**The Rise of the Reaper**_

 _Prologue_

"Ugh….." Ragna painfully groaned as he slowly rose off the ground every, muscle in his body felt like it was burning. "My head… what happened?"

"I see you've awakened." The voice Ragna heard was both cold and powerful, like he could tell that he DID NOT want to cross whoever had just spoken those four simple words. Ragna slowly opened his eyes, expecting his vision to be blurred after being asleep for he didn't know how long, but in reality his vision was perfect as soon as he opened them, better than it had ever been.

It was the middle of the night, dark clouds floated overhead, a few of them partly blocking out the moonlight that shone down on the field. Though it still felt painful, Ragna slowly turned his head to where the voice had come from. He'd felt intimidated just hearing the voice, but the person who actually said it was even scarier. He wasn't able see the actual person, but that only added to his nerves.

The figure was clad in armor that was pure white aside from a few black detail with a extremely long white ponytail coming off of the helmet. It was kneeling a few feet away from him in apparent meditation. A sword lay on the ground beside him, sheathed and extremely long.

"W-What the hell are you?" Ragna demanded as he tried to block out the headache he was feeling. Noticing the dried blood on his otherwise white clothing he tried his hardest not to vomit, but couldn't help feeling nauseous.

"Honestly I don't know where to begin with that question," Hakumen told the boy, still kneeling. "I'll admit, I was beginning to grow impatient waiting for you to awaken. A part of me wondered if you hadn't died while you'd been asleep for several days."

"Rgh… Wait, several days? You're telling me I've been asleep here for days!?" Ragna shouted.

"That is what I said," Hakumen told him passively. Ragna quickly tried to get up, but groaned as his entire body flared with pain and fell to the ground. "Foolish, you are in no condition to move aggressively, much less in revenge. Your body hasn't finished adapting to the BlazBlue's power."

"Blaze...Blue?" Ragna asked aloud before remembering some of what happened. "Wait, you mean-?" Looking at his right arm Ragna saw what appeared to be an arm, but one that was covered in dark leather straps and a dark material. "Oh god… so that bastard- He-!"

"Yes, you've lost your arm, your caretaker, your home, and your siblings. All of them, to one man..."

"Jin… Saya…" Ragna's tone was one of sorrow and defeat. He was imagining what their captor was doing to them right now. Torturing them? Killing them? Probably, and it was all his fault. His expression darkened further as he thought about the man who'd did this to him, the one that had shown up as a ghost…

Noticing the boy's change in expression, Hakumen became curious. "What is it that you want?"

"Huh?"

"If it is revenge you seek then I can provide you the means to acquire it. It will not be easy, but I can train you into a warrior strong enough to take him down."

"You will? But why? And who the hell are you anyways?" Ragna demanded. It made sense for him to be suspicious, his entire way of life as he knew it had just ended and suddenly there was this guy in front of him offer to help.

"Your goal is in line with mine, that man, Yuuki Terumi, is someone who I also need to see die. As for my name... I am Hakumen."

"Hakumen…" Ragna thought to himself before realizing. "You mean THAT Hakumen!? The leader of the Six Heroes? The ones who managed to destroy the Black Beast and end the dark war!?"

"Yes, that would be me," Hakumen confirmed. "But I need your answer, will you train under me? Will you learn from me? And once we are done… will you fight for your revenge?"

"Hell yeah! I want to see that bastard dead!" Ragna yelled as he slowly stood. "It want to kick his ass to the curb! I want to-!"

Quicker than Ragna could see, Hakumen leapt from his kneeling position, grabbing the sword that lay behind him and stabbed into Ragna's gut with the blunt sheath. Ragna gave a pain filled grunt as he went sailed through the air a good ten feet before crashing to the ground. He hissed as he curled up and grabbed where Hakumen had struck, the wound flaring up in pain. He slowly turned his head to White Susanoo, his eyes filled with anger.

"This is your first lesson," Hakumen told him, holding Okami by the sheath. "Never act out of only anger. Your actions will become sloppy and predictable, you will need to learn to control your rage if you hope to defeat Terumi and those who stand with him." While Ragna fought to shrug off the sucker punch (in this case sucker hilt?) Hakumen grabbed a small paracel that he'd been keeping behind him and threw it to where his victim lay. "Here are some fresh clothes, use the waters of the river to wash off the blood before you change into them and we'll begin our training… Apprentice."

Ragna growled as he slowly made his way up, and grabbed the parcel. He slowly made his way towards the river, his movement hindered by both his recovering body and Hakumen's first 'lesson.'

It took some effort, but Ragna finally managed to make it to make it to the river. He was still breathing heavily from the excruciating walk, but at the very least he was starting to get some of his stamina back.

' _Damn, I got messed up,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he caught his breath near the side of the river. ' _Funny, getting water here was the last thing that happened before I saw that bastard.'_ Ragna glanced at the waters of the river. The current was calm and the moonlight shone off of the cool waters. ' _My water bucket should be around here somewhere…'_

As Ragna searched around for that which he'd forgotten about when Terumi had brought hell unto him, he caught a glance of his reflection in the river and held his breath. Though startled at first, he slowly approached for a second look. Sure enough his appearance had changed, his once fair blonde hair had become a much paler silver. While his left eye remained green like his sibling's, his right one had become blood-red. Though it wouldn't matter in a few moments, most of his body was covered in red from the blood of having lost his arm.

"...What the hell's happening to me?" Ragna said to himself before looking at his BlazBlue. "Am I turning into some kind of monster?" His thoughts again went to his sibling and the man that had taken them.

' _This is… this is all your fault brother!'_ Jin had said to him while the fire burned his home to the ground, the madman that he now knew as Terumi laughing as he stood behind his brother and sister.

"Maybe it is my fault…" Ragna said, his anger starting to rise. "But if it kills me I'm going to make that bastard pay for what he did to us."

A little over a half hour later Ragna returned to where his new master was waiting for him. Ragna's clothing had now composed of a crimson sleeveless shirt and black hakama pants. In the the short time that Ragna had spent bathing he'd managed to recover to close to full strength and was walking more like a regular human now.

"Alright, I'm back," Ragna said bluntly as he approached his waiting master, his sheathed katana impaled in the ground behind him. "So what now?"

"Defend yourself!" Hakumen yelled. Ragna only had a split second to register the sudden rush toward him as the White Susanooh's fist came flying towards his fact. Ragna managed to dodge the initial impact, but the punch still scraped across his face.

"Not fast enough!" Hakumen shouted as he kicked Ragna in the gut and sent his apprentice flying landed on the ground with a devastating thud. He groaned as he gripped his stomach in pain.

"Stand up! Those wounds should not impede you! Can you not feel the BlazBlue's regenerating powers!?" Gritting his teeth, Ragna slowly made his way to his feet before and got into a battle ready stance by raising his fists.

"Your senses should have been heightened by the Azure Grimoire! Use that to predict my attacks!" Hakumen commanded as he twisted his body to attack Ragna's legs and sweep his feet. Ragna managed to to sense the attack coming and quickly jumped back, but Hakumen then spun his entire body and delivered a powerful kick which landed in Ragna's face, sending him flying a third time.

"Never lose your footing lest your opponent takes advantage of it!" Hakumen ordered as Ragna gripped his face, blood trickling down from his nose. "Do not tell me that you're already finished! I thought you wanted revenge!?"

"Then teach me how to actually fight!" Ragna shouted as wiped away the blood and glared angrily at Hakumen. "All you're doing now is kicking my ass and hoping that I pick up on something!"

"Perhaps I was wrong about you," Hakumen spoke with disappointment. "I'd hoped you'd be better than this, but perhaps I was expecting you to amount to something that you're not." The Samurai shook his head.

"SHUT UP!" Ragna shouted as he rose to his feet and rushed towards Hakumen. "I TOLD YOU! I'M GOING TO MAKE THAT BASTARD PAY IF IT KILLS ME!" His right arm suddenly gave a small spark as a black flame started to emerge from it.

' _What in the world?'_ Hakumen thought as Ragna brought the Azure Grimoire back before sending a punch at him. The Susanooh managed to catch the punch, but his entire body lurched back. ' _He's already established a connection? How?'_

"Whoa! What the hell am I doing?" Ragna spoke confused as he saw his arm still giving off the black flames. "What is this?"

' _He doesn't even realize what he's done,'_ Hakumen thought before using Ragna's caught fist to swing him over his head and slam him down to the ground. "What was rule one?"

"Ugh…" Ragna groaned, as the he laid on the ground which had been cracked by the sheer force of the impact. "What'd I… ever do to you?"

"Feh, those wounds will heal shortly," Hakumen said to him before a growl emerged. Hakumen knew that the growl had come from Ragna, yet was mildly surprised to see it had come from the youth's stomach. "For now I leave you to recover. Come sunrise our training will resume…"

"Sunrise?" Ragna asked before looking at the moon, already making its descent to the west. "But that's only going to give me a couple of hours! I still gotta eat don't I?"

"Then I suggest you hurry," Hakumen told him. "Surviving my training would prove impossible without the proper nutrition."

Ragna groaned as he made his way to his feet and headed for the treeline once more, this time to look for food. Once he was gone Hakumen spoke to the shade of a nearby tree.

"Show yourself Harlequin," he demanded. Surely enough, Rachel Alucard stepped out of the shadows, the air of dignity surrounding her. "You were watching us. Why bother?"

"To put the matter simply I was merely curious whether or not you'd actually stick to you word about training that unfortunate excuse for a human being. Suffice to say I'm not at all surprised at my initial view to your… teaching technique."

"You may find my methods crude, but they will be more than effective for what I am to accomplish."

"Methods?" Rachel asked daintily. "All I see you engaging with him in bouts of fisticuffs that he has no hope of winning, so what pray tell is your method?"

"Nothing short of making hell itself seem like a mercy," Hakumen told her, his tone suggesting he would not move on this matter. "Nothing can prepare you for what one will find on the real battlefield, but I will recreate that feeling with all of my ability. He will either learn to fight or be destroyed."

"This all seems like brutality that only Terumi and a select few people are capable of, but it would appear your name could now be added to that list. Tell me, are you doing this as some petty form of spite against the Black Beast?"

"No, after all what could be gained from that?" Hakumen questioned the vampire. "Though a connection with the Azure this early was not something I had planned. Given his lack of skill with Ars Magus he could very well succumb to the corruption if this continues."

"Hmph, I see you had not thought this out entirely," Rachel noted. "And just what do you plan to do if the corruption does take hold?"

"Then I slay him where he stands," Hakumen told her.

"Is that so?" Rachel asked him. "I suppose I can never expect for you to change your ways Susanooh." The young vampire then headed off towards the treeline where Ragna had headed.

"Where are you going?" Hakumen questioned.

"Watching you senselessly punish that pungent ape has left me feeling quite bored, I believe it's time that I sought some entertainment," Rachel told him as she floated into the air. "Or would you try to stop me?"

"...Do what you will, it makes no difference to me," Hakumen said, knowing full well that his apprentice would almost certainly be the target of the Harlequin's whims. After Rachel left Hakumen allowed himself his first forlorn sigh in some time, almost dreading what was about to transpire.

 _ **Meanwhile**_

Ragna considered it lucky that there wasn't a significant amount of seither in the area. For some odd reason or another there had never been much and any time he'd seen a patch he'd told the sister and she'd somehow remove it soon afterwards. He figured that now that she was… gone, the Seither could start to return, but that would take some time and he could start gathering supplies.

He'd managed to wash himself earlier with getting blood in the bucket or river so he could still use those to his favor. Finding food might not be that hard either, the sister had been unnaturally good in garden, able to raise a fully grown apple tree in just a month so there'd be no shortage of food nearby.

' _All right, now to find that apple tree,'_ Ragna thought to himself as his stomach growled, not having had anything to eat for several days. "Just be patient dammit, I'll get you some food in a moment."

"You speak to your stomach as if it will listen to you. Is thinking with your stomach somewhat more literal to you, keeping that small mass you call a brain within the confines of your digestive system, the juices slowly eating away at it and rapidly losing brain cells?"

"What the!?" Ragna shouted as he quickly looked around the forest, hoping to catch glance of who'd just insulted him. "...There's no one here. Am I just hearing things? Yeah, that's gotta be it. I mean there's no one here and it's not like there's a g-ghost right?"

Smiling wicked to herself from where she floated in the skies, Rachel willed the winds to silently carry her to right behind Ragna, the youth completely oblivious to her presence as he tried to reassure himself.

"Boo."

Rachel had expected him leap in the air screaming at the top of his lungs, but what happened instead was much less satisfying; Ragna's entire body shook for a moment, went ridged, and fell forward as he fainted.

"Oh dear, that reaction was less entertaining than what I was hoping for," Rachel said as she looked at the collapsed Ragna. "Wake up." Ragna didn't respond as he simply lay there. "Very well, then I suppose I'll have to awaken you with force. Consider this an act of mercy young one, better that you face this than what Hakumen had planned for you had you been late."

The young Alucard rose her hand to summon a bolt of lightning to strike down from the heavens, but as she did the heap of a body in front of her started twitching. Her first thought was that Ragna was awakening, but then the youth seemed to curl up.

' _What on earth is he doing?'_ Rachel thought to herself before Ragna started to speak from his subconscious.

"No… get away from me… Stop it! You're killing them…" Ragna mumbled from his sleep, shivering as he talked, a small trail of tears flowing from his eyes. "Jin... Saya… Why? …Why couldn't I…?"

Rachel stared as the boy who lay before her, suffering from a traumatic nightmare that she in a small sense felt responsible for. Her hand still crackled with pink lighting, able to strike the boy and painfully awaken him whenever she felt like it. Allow herself a small sigh she dispelled the bolt from her hand.

' _There will be time for my fun once he has recovered,'_ she thought to herself. ' _For now I shall leave him be. Rest yourself as best you can now Ragna, your journey of many painful trials has only begun.'_

 _ **Later**_

Ragna groaned as he opened his eyes once more, finding himself on the ground in the middle of the forest. Shaking the small headache he had, he slowly picked himself up.

"Damn it, did I fall asleep?" Ragna said to himself before looking into the sky. "Shit! I don't have long until I need to get back for training and I still haven't found any food! What am I supposed to do!?"

As Ragna was about to take off running until he found a tree, he felt a few objects painfully bounce off of his head. Looking at the ground he saw four red apples, all of them large and ripe for eating.

"Where'd these things come from?" Ragna thought as he glanced about him. He wasn't under any tree branches, much less an apple tree's branches. The only thing that he could tell was that the mysterious smell of roses seemed to be fading fast. "Whatever, I'll take what I can get at this point."

After quickly munching down on the mystery apples, Ragna headed back for the clearing where Hakumen stood waiting with a pile of stone beside him.

"You've returned," he noted, almost sounding surprised. "Did you come across any… troubles when finding food?"

"Not really, I sort of dozed off while looking for food, then the moment I woke up my head suddenly got pummeled by falling apples. And I wasn't even near the apple tree."

' _He's been sleeping for several days, so just falling asleep even after that training session in more than a little unlikely,'_ Hakumen thought to himself. ' _And for him to suddenly get apples… Abuse him or assist him, make up your mind Harlequin..._ '

"Something up?" Ragna asked, seeing his master deep in thought.

"It's nothing, we should resume our training," Hakumen told him. "For now we will work on your aptitude with BlazBlue and the ability to create Ars Magus with it."

"So you're going to teach me some actual fighting techniques now," Ragna noted. "Why didn't you do this BEFORE you beat my ass in that sparring match?"

"Second lesson; a warrior fights with everything that they have, regardless of how little," Hakumen told him. "A warrior's prowess is not determined by strength or techniques, but rather how he chooses to use them."

"...That still sounds like an excuse to me," Ragna muttered as he glanced at his BlazBlue. "So how do I use this thing, like I did earlier?"

"I am unsure on many of the specifics," Hakumen admitted. "I do, however, have a theory."

"A theory? What's that supposed?" Ragna asked. Then next instance, Hakumen rushed forward to deliver another fist to his face. Ragna barely managed to avoid the attack by weaving back. "WHOA! What the hell?"

"You managed to established a connection when you were in a hopeless situation, when you were pushed to your limit," Hakumen told him as he sent a kick to Ragna's chest. He managed to block the attack, but the sheer force behind it was enough to knock him off of his feet and cause him to fall to the ground once more. "Meaning we'll continue as we were earlier, I'll tell you the techniques while be battle and from there it's your choice what will be broken; your limits, or your body."

Ragna growled as he slowly stood, expecting this to become another massacre like last time. "Fine, so what's first?"

"First we shall start with defensive Ars Magus," Hakumen told him. "The most basic one would be the _Block_ Ars. As the name clearly implies, it is meant to defend you against attacks and it can be activated fairly easily, but does not offer optimal protection. To start with, take a defensive stance and let the energies flow in front of you to from, think of a shield."

"Like a shield, huh?" Ragna thought as he tried forming a _Block_ Ars in front of him. Nothing "How's that?"

"You think you've formed it properly?" the White Susanooh questioned him before picking a small stone off the ground and throwing it at his apprentice. Ragna braced himself and tried to from the Ars as strong as strong as he could. The rock didn't slow in the slightest as it slammed into his chest. Ragna let out a wheeze of breath as he fell forward. "Evidently not."

"Then tell me next time!" Ragna shouted before groaning again, still clutching his stomach.

"Did I ever say that you could rest?" Hakumen asked before picking up another stone and hurling it at the downed Ragna. Ragna gritted his teeth as he braced himself, half of him trying desperately to enact a block shield and the other half tensing his body to take the rock when it most likely hit him. Oddly enough, Ragna had actually managed to create a small shield that flashed black and dark purple, and activated when the rock came close to it. The Ars shattered with the thrown rock's power, but it managed to absorb most of the force for Ragna so he didn't fall over wheezing.

"Better," his teacher told him. "For now we'll focus on developing that until you can completely block the rock and then we shall move on to a more advanced technique."

"So you're going to keep throwing rocks at me until I manage to block this!?" Ragna demanded.

"Indeed, so if you wish to escape this section of training I hope that you're able to master this Ars quickly… before we run out of stones at least."

"Oh great," Ragna grumbled to himself as Hakumen picked up yet another stone. He braced himself, praying to whatever he could that this training would be over quickly.

Twenty stones latter Ragna managed to perform a perfect _Block_ Ars, the rock shattering as it hit his means of protection. He let out a sigh of relief, but Hakumen retrieved another stone. "Performing the technique once does not mean you have learned it. If you wish to prove that you have a SMALL degree of mastery over a _Block_ Ars, then perform it five additional times, consecutively."

Ragna nodded in reluctant, knowing that his master had a very good point in what he was saying. The next stone cast broke through Ragna's shield, but struck Ragna with only the slightest of forces. Twenty-nine stones later he managed to accomplish what Hakumen had instructed him, blocking each stone with finesse.

"Suitable," Hakumen noted before performing a simple kick on the rock sending it spiraling towards Ragna. He fully expected the stone to hit its target, but his apprentice proved him wrong and managed to block the rock, causing it to shatter against his protection. "Huh, actually impressive. You've reflexes are improving."

"Actually I'm just starting to expect this store of thing from you," Ragna told him through pained breaths. "So now what?"

"Now I teach you an Ars that is similar in design, but much more advanced. The defensive _Barrier_ Ars is employed by many for protection in combat as it is able to block all put the greatest attacks. Though many employ it, activating this technique takes time to charge for those with ill ability. In the Librarium most members today can take from five to as many as fifteen seconds to create this."

"So that's when I attack them," Ragna noted, receiving a begrudging nod of approval from his master. "So how long does it take you to form it?"

"Me? Well…" A shimmering bright green barrier appeared in front of the Susanooh. "To me, it comes as naturally. Though this ability is not without limits and restrictions. This Ars has a limit to how much you can apply it before waiting for to recharge. Also, abusing it also weakens your other protective Ars for a time leaving you vulnerable to attacks."

"So it's risky," Ragna summarized. "How do I pull it off?"

"You already saw what I had performed," Hakumen noted. "Imagine the energies, feel them flowing to create, the _BlazBlue_ shall handle the rest."

Forming the barrier was taking time, Hakumen wondered if the BlazBlue was really the most powerful of Grimoires or if that was simply a ruse. Then he remembered Ragna's crippling ineptitude with Ars Magus and decided he would wait for now.

After a full ninety minutes of trying to create a full barrier Ragna final managed to conjure one. It took him a full two minutes to conjure it, and even then it barely lasted five seconds.

"You will have to improve, and quickly if you wish to be ready for my test," Hakumen commanded.

"Or what? You're going to throw more rocks at me?" Ragna spat with ire.

Deciding his apprentices tone was too casual for his liking, Hakumen said nothing, but walked off a small ways. Ragna stood in curiosity as hakumen went over to a burned tree, one that had caught fire when the church had been burned to the ground. The White Susanooh quickly delivered a punch and a kick to tree, knocking the useless thin part off the top and the remaining piece off the base. Hakumen hefted the middle piece, thick and as long as his broad shoulders, with a single hand.

"I shall be throwing THIS at you," Hakumen spoke coldly.

"I...I'll get back to practicing," Ragna told him as he resumed his work with the barrier Ars.

' _Nothing short of hell looking like a mercy,_ ' Hakumen thought watching Ragna practice. ' _Were Juebi here he'd give you time to rest, he might even give you benefit of the doubt, I will not.'_

 **Author's Note: I don't own BlazBlue.**

 **Well to the Americans and anyone else who celebrates this holiday Happy 4th of July, to everyone else I wish you a pleasant evening. This Arc may have been hinted at before, but now I can confirm that we will be covering Ragna's training and his life leading up to his career as a bounty hunter.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Yuuki Terumi Ouroboros Master: For the record Hazama reconstructed the hat so it's still there. As for Jin… the same can't be said.**

 **KnightSpark: Shock and awe my friend, shock and awe.**

 **TheAllsingWolf-195: Knowing Ragna, it's all a matter of time, though it may take some time to get to now.**

 **Eternal Cobra34: Yes, I can agree on your choice of voice actors.**

 **Ad: In a nutshell, yes it is.**

 **marconator 360: Terumi is such a cunning asshole it's hard to hate him. My plans for Tsubaki are… complicated, but plenty of time to get to that later.**

 **Neutral40: Nu has a tendency to bounce back, so I wouldn't say she's gone for good.**

 **Shirosaki Kizuro: If you like the thought of Terumi doing such a thing then you've come to the right place.**

 **Guest: Oh, that will be a scene to remember.**

 **DragonAlex5533: Please, Terumi isn't THAT evil… On second thought, go vegan from now on, just to be safe.**

 **Dread: *Bows***

 **Knight Spark: Ragna doesn't have anything specific against Sailor Moon, he just dreads it because of all of the times he's had to Marathon it with Kokonoe.**

 **Guest: Does he?**

 **Megamanfan zx: Well now, greatest writer on fanfiction. That's a pretty big claim, but thank you for the complement. Carl is… alright for me. I would like to see a good character development in the final game as well as seeing him manage to surpass his so called father. Calculating, normally well mannered, if a little cold at times, he makes an interesting character for sure.**

 **Until next time.**


	13. Training Under A Hero

_Trial I: Training under a Hero_

"Argh!" Ragna screamed as he was sent flying into the air and landed on his back with a painful thud as his practice sword fell to the ground beside him. Hakumen gave a sigh and shook his head as his apprentice tried to rise off of ground for the tenth time since they'd started.

"Is that really your best?" the White Susanooh said as he rest his sheathed sword _Okami_ on his shoulder. "You'll have to do better than that if you wish to take your revenge on the man that ruined your life."

"I know dammit!" Ragna swore as he slowly made his way to his feet and gripped his side. "All you did was give me a practice sword and told me to not die! Can't you even bother to tell me how to use it before we fight!?"

"I told you, I would inform you of how to fight only while training," Hakumen told him. "If your entire training regimen did not feel hopeless I'd be doing something wrong. Remember what I said; your body or your limits, you decide what breaks."

"I get that," Ragna said as he tried to shake the painful feeling in his ribs off. "But why the hell did you spend an entire week teaching me _Ars Magus_ if I'm not allowed to use it now?"

"Because then you'd only be proficient in using _Ars Magus,_ not a practiced sword style. There will come times where you'll have to rely on one or another so you must master both of them equally," the former hero readied his sword into a battle stance. "Ready yourself, we resume our sparring now."

"I got it, I got it," Ragna groaned as Hakumen quickly advanced on him. While he tried his hardest to survive his sparring match with his master, they were watched from the treeline by a seemingly innocent little girl sat with a cup of tea in her hands.

"So much complaining…" Rachel sighed to herself as she sat on a cloth covered stump with Nago and Gii sitting beside her. "Does he actually mean to acquire his revenge or is he going to simply hope to gripe his way through training?"

A dull thwack was heard from the two dueling as Hakumen scored an overhead hit on Ragna's head with his sheathed sword. The youth didn't even have time to groan at the pain of the blow inflicted on him before Hakumen brought his sword back and stabbed hit forward, leaving Ragna to barely block the attack before being sent skidding back on the ground.

"He managed to block an attack princess," Rachel's black cat umbrella, Nago, said to her. "Do you think there's hope for him yet?"

"I very much doubt it," Rachel said. It was then that Hakumen brought his sword around his head and attack with a massive sideswipe at his apprentice. Ragna tried to bring his sword up to block the attack, but the force was so great it sent him off his feet and flying into a tree thirty feet away. "You see? He still hasn't any grasp of when to guard an attack and when to avoid one."

"But princess, you almost never dodge attacks; you always use us as shields so you don't get hit," Gii, Rachel's pig-bat said, earning himself a slap from Rachel that sent him soaring into the air. "WHAT DID I SAAAAAAAAAAY!?"

"Have you anything to add Nago?" the Alucard asked her other companion.

"Nothing princess! Nothing at all!" Nago shouted, fearing for his life.

Across the field, Ragna groaned as he once again attempted to stand after being knocked on his ass, this time after hitting a tree. Grabbing his practice sword as he rose, he barely had time acknowledge the _Okami_ swing was coming right for him from the side. Knowing he couldn't block the strike he quickly dived out of the way, as the attack missed him by a hair breadth. Rolling on the ground and raising his sword he was about to retaliate when he realized that the tree he'd been leaning against fell to the ground with a dull thud.

' _What the hell?_ ' Ragna thought to himself in fear as Hakumen turned and performed another slash which he again barely dodged. This caused another tree to fall, a clean slice right through the base. ' _He can cut through those trees like it's nothing when his sword's sheathed!? How the hell am I supposed to fight that!?_ '

Hakumen performed another down slash with his sheathed sword and while the attack missed Ragna, when it hit the ground in front of him it sent the youth flying backwards from the shock wave it created. While Ragna rolled backwards on the ground he managed to quickly make it to his feet, but then he noticed the giant crater that the attack had caused.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" Ragna demanded as Hakumen rushed forward before he could react. His master performed another slash, which Ragna tried to guard against, but the slash that followed cleanly cut the practice sword in two leaving Ragna unprepared and defenseless as the force of the winds the slash gave off knocked him on his rump.

"Your limits or your body," Hakumen reminded darkly as he raised his sheathed sword and brought it down in a lethal arc. Ragna tried to brace himself for the hit, but he didn't have any idea what kind of damage it would deal.

 **Clang!**

It happened so fast that Ragna didn't even realize what happened at first, but he saw that a blond haired girl in a black gothic dress that was shorter than him and smelled of roses was standing in between him and his master with a barrier raised to hold back Hakumen's sheathed sword.

"Harlequin," Hakumen noted before he brought _Okami_ away and the mystery girl let the barrier drop. "I thought I told you not to interfere, so why are you defending him?"

"Oh do be quiet, lest I gain a migraine from your unintelligible questions Mister Hero," she responded cooly, surprising Ragna. Did this chick know who she was talking to? "I thought you were going to train this poor excuse for a child, not murder him while he fumbles about helplessly."

"Whatever wounds I inflicted would have healed easily with the _BlazBlue's_ power, even if I am using the _Okami_ 's sheath," Hakumen said to her. "You had no place to interfere."

"Maybe not how I doubt that your apprentice will ever amount to much if you keep striking him unceasingly with that sheath of yours. He likely only has a few brain cells left so try not to destroy them, his idiocy is already unbearable as it is and I doubt his arm can heal _that_ damage."

"Oi! What the hell did I do to deserve this!?" Ragna shouted as he angrily stood. "First my own teacher tries to carve me in half and then I'm saved by some stalking gothic loli who's insulting me for no good reason! Who the hell are you anyways!?"

' _Stalking gothic loli,_ ' Hakumen thought to himself as Rachel's narrowed as the words against her sunk in. "Apprentice…"

"Yeah what is it?" Ragna asked curtly before he was struck with a pink lightning bolt from the heavens. He gave a pain filled shout as electricity corsed throughout his entire body before he fell flat on his back.

"...She also happens to be a vampire countless years older than you are with a firm mastery of sorcery," Hakumen told the _shocked_ (pardon the pun) form of his pupil.

"Coulda told me that before…" came Ragna's weak response.

' _Also?_ ' Rachel thought bitterly as Ragna tried to make his way to his feet. "Oh, you're still able to stand after that? Perhaps you can take a bit more punishment than I thought."

"Well it certainly hurts like hell," Ragna admitted as he rose. "Did you really have to hit me with effing lightning?"

"Coming up with an unflattering description for a lady is a serious offense," came the voice of black cat next to Rachel that a surprised Ragna swore wasn't there before.

"Uh… who the hell is that?"

"Oh, do you really want to know?" Nago asked with a suggestive tone that clearly sent shivers down Ragna's spine. "You can call me Nago, personal servant to her highness. Well one of them anyways, Gii should be around here some-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" came the sudden scream from above. Startled, Ragna quickly turned his head up before a red pig-bat fell from the sky, used his skyward directed face as a landing pad, and sent him sprawling to the floor.

"This just isn't his day is it?" Nago said, shaking his head as to groaned from where they lie on the ground.

Ragna again groaned as he slowly had to rise off of the ground glaring daggers at the girl in front of him. "What about you? What the hell's your name?"

"You wish to know my name?" Rachel responded seeming slightly surprised at the thought. "Impudent child, you think I'd give it to something as vulgar and unsightly as you? You must be a foolish being if you think that you can get my identity while you need to rely on my charitable nature to survive a mere sparring match."

"Shut it!" Ragna shouted, surprising Nago and Gii. "If you're going to be a stuck up little brat then get the hell out of my face! I've got better things to do than listen to you!"

"You forget your place," Rachel said to him as the two glared directly into one another's eyes. Hakumen knew Rachel wasn't using her sorceries, but he could still see the sparks flying between the two. "Nago, Gii, we are leaving."

"Yes princess," Nago said with a somewhat forced smile on his face.

"Okay…" Gii groaned as still lay on a head on the floor as he began flapping his wings to rise off of the floor.

"See that you don't interrupt us again," Hakumen said to the vampiress. "I don't want apprentice to think that you'll save him every time."

"Who needs her saving? I'd rather have died," Ragna grunted, earning yet another glare from Rachel. "What're you still doing here? Aren't I too mortifying to look at or some crap like that?"

"...You know I may reconsider giving you my name," she said to him as she picked the two pieces of Ragna's broken practice sword. Ragna raised and eyebrow as Rachel smiled cruelly and connected the two pieces before tossing the sword to Ragna. He caught the wooden blade which had been repaired as if Hakumen had never broken it. "But only if you actually manage to impress me, so I might as well never tell you…"

"Whatever _Rabbit_ ," the youth said as he rolled his eyes and gave the practice sword a quick twirl.

"I'm sorry, what did you call me?" Rachel asked with venom in her tone. Now Hakumen was unsure if he'd still have an apprentice before she left.

"I called you _Rabbit_ 'cause you look like one and you're too stuck up to give me your real name," Ragna explained before smirking. "It suits you."

Rachel did nothing but glare for several moments before she teleported, taking her two servants with her. The youth smirked to himself for a small moment before he felt the hairs of on his body stand straight up. His mind didn't have time to react as his body flung itself to the side, watching in seemingly slow motion as another pink lightning bolt plunged from the heavens and tore the grounds he'd been standing.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?" Ragna shouted all around him though he figured Rachel couldn't hear him. He gripped his fist in anger for a moment before he realized something important. ' _Did I just dodge lightning?'_

"I wasn't planning on the two of you meeting so soon," Hakumen said to Ragna, his voice void of emotion as usual. "With all of the chaos we've just witnessed this seems like a good enough time to break for lunch."

"Forget it, I don't need any rest," Ragna said as he brought his sword up to resume dueling his teacher. "Come on, let's keep going."

"Don't tell me you want to know the harlequin's true name that badly?" Hakumen said to his pupil. "If you want I could simply tell it to you."

"Who wants to know her name? I just want to knock that smug look off her face!" Ragna shouted as he held his sword at the ready.

Hakumen said nothing before swinging his sword with such speed and force at his apprentices head it would've cracked it wide open and Ragna was unable to defend himself and was sure it would have… had Hakumen not stopped the attack before it hit. A second later the master still delivered a strong whack to his apprentices head, but not nearly as lethal as it would've been.

"You need to develop an eye that can see attacks before they strike you otherwise you'll never be able to keep up with the Harlequin or I," Hakumen told his apprentice. "Watch your opponent's body movements, see their attack trajectories, and know when it's better to avoid the attack."

"That sounds like a lot of watching, probably really hard to do," Ragna said honestly.

"Then we'll fight until it turns to natural instinct," his master told him as he brought his sword back and the two resumed their spar.

 _ **Castle Alucard**_

Valkenhayn stood at the ready next to the table he'd prepared for his master's return. The table was prepared with a steaming pot of tea, a basket full of scones, and plate of cheesecake, all of which were crafted by his expertise. He did not wait long as Rachel Alucard appeared on the walkway with Nago and Gii. Valkenhayn gave the proper bow as his master walked towards a table. After pulling out her chair to help seat her and pouring her a cup of tea, the Princess was ready to begin her meal.

"Was your observation of Lord Hakumen and his apprentice as interesting as you'd hoped milady?" Valkenhayn asked as he expertly set a small plate with a fruit-filled crepe on it in front of Rachel.

"I hadn't hoped it to be interesting at all, I went there only with the intention of having a humorous time watching the apprentice stumble around to survive. He was so rude and with terrible reason, I saved his life after all."

"You and he… met?" the elderly butler questioned, his facial features narrowing in a frown.

"Indeed we did, though I did not intend for that to happen," Rachel said as she took a knife and fork in each hand and began cutting a small piece of the crepe. "The Hero had planned striking him with a blow which might've have proven fatal to anyone without the _BlazBlue's_ power of regeneration. Wounds like that would slowed his training even further and stop his non-existing progress." The young vampiress paused. "Perhaps I've done nothing but acted foolishly and brought an unbearable annoyance to my intention."

"Nonsense, I would say that you are the very pinnacle of mercy Madam, that brute is simple too unobservant to see it," Valkenhayn said with a smile. "Had he known of the legacy and history of the Alucards his response to you would have been much different."

"I doubt that very much," Rachel said after she'd finished her bite of the crepe. 'Even if he'd known of my name and house I he'd never give me any proper amount of respect."

"He does not know of your name? Then how would that buffoon address you?" the werewolf questioned.

"The same way as his master," Rachel said, her eyes narrowed. "With unflattering nicknames."

 _ **-Two Months Later-**_

' _It seems like it's that time again,'_ Hakumen thought to himself late one night. His apprentice had already gone to sleep, clearly exhausted after a long day of training the campfire was currently little more than embers and the meal Ragna had eaten everything he'd cooked for himself. He certainly wasn't a master chef, but he seemed to be working hard at it.

Rising from where he was meditating, Hakumen headed out of their camp grounds towards the treeline, he walking in the foliage for several moments before arriving to his intended location.

"Mister Hero," Rachel said as she stood in the treeline. "It appears you are ready… the both of you."

' _Both of us?'_ Hakumen thought before realized he could now sense a presence behind him, hiding behind a tree. "Apprentice…" he said with clear aggression in his tone.

Ragna stepped out from behind the tree, with a face that looked pleased to Hakumen. "Never thought that would work so well," he said, staring at his arm with a grin.

' _A Stealth Ars and given its potency, a high leveled one at that,_ ' Hakumen thought to himself. "How did you learn to use that technique?"

"I've sort of been practicing it," Ragna said with a smirk. "It helps to hide me from whatever I'm hunting for dinner. Pair that up with a little bit of my own stealth and I'm able to catch something without them ever knowing I'm there."

"How embarrassing mister hero," Rachel said as she smiled spitefully. "It appears you've allowed yourself to be followed by a rabid dog… no dog is too kind a word, what would be better?"

"Shut it Bunny Leech," Ragna barked before turning to Hakumen. "So you head out around the same time every month and you only do it when I'm asleep so I wouldn't pick up on it… Why?"

"It has nothing to do with you," the White Susanooh told him. "Head back to the encampment, tomorrow's training is going to be unlike anything you've faced so far." ' _He learned an entire Ars without my assistance or knowledge? He's growing stronger on his own, this could be a problem… or maybe...'_

"Whatever," Ragna said as he shrugged and was about to walk off, knowing that a 'new level' of training had been happening since he'd started learning from Hakumen..

"I doubt that there's any need for that," Rachel said, causing Ragna to stop. "With only your Master for company it's not a wonder why you haven't learned a single thing about socializing, this could be a good opportunity."

"Socializing?" Ragna repeated. "So you're meeting someone, who is it?"

Rachel said nothing before opening a portal of darkness so that Ragna couldn't see what was on the other side. She gave a glance and a coy smile to Hakumen and who clearly wasn't amused.

"Do what you will," he said plainly before stepping through the portal and disappearing out of sight.

"Are you going too?" Ragna questioned the vampiress in front of him.

"I have no intention of going and-" Rachel didn't even have time to finish before Ragna stepped through the portal and disappeared as well. "...Perhaps I should instruct Hakumen to teach him some manners, he could certainly use them."

On the other side of the portal, Ragna found himself in this strange laboratory room that was filled with sets of beakers, test tubes, and other scientific gear.

"Where the hell are we?" Ragna asked his master.

"Sector Seven," Hakumen answered. Seeing the confusion on his apprentice face he decided to elaborate. "The person we're here to see happens to be a daughter of the the _Great Sage_ Nine and the _One-Eyed Lotus_ Jubei. She lost her parents to Terumi shortly after the end of the _**Dark War,**_ so I've been checking on her frequently."

"That so?" Ragna repeated as he continued looking around the room, his eyes eventually setting on the desk. "For the daughter of two of the _Six Heroes_ she sure eats a lot of candy."

"It helps me deal with the stress that I keep getting from the idiots here," a sudden curt voice said. Turning, Ragna saw a woman that looked older than he was with pink hair, cat ears, and twin tails. She was wearing a white lab coat, red sweatpants, and slim glasses. "Hakumen, I thought I said you weren't needed here."

"Old habit," Ragna's master said, his tone was more casual than he'd ever heard from him.

'I see… and this is the apprentice that you barely brought up last time," she said before turning her yellow eyes to Ragna. "Call me Kokonoe."

"Ragna," he said in response, giving. "So you're some big shot scientist then?"

"If you want to call it that, then yes," Kokonoe said as she headed over to her desk and took out a lollipop, and began enjoying it while looking at Ragna's arm. "So that's the _BlazBlue_."

"Do you wish to take it?" Hakumen questioned, causing Ragna to grow worried as he was unsure whose side his master would take if Kokonoe's answer was yes.

"I don't have any use for a fake like that," Kokonoe said causing Ragna's eyes to grow wide as he stared at his arm. "What, Hakumen didn't tell you? That's not the real _BlazBlue_ ; it's a replica. A strong replica sure, but still not the original."

"Seriously?" Ragna said as he lift his hand and stared at the back of his palm. "Damn, that's a real let down."

"As much of a let down that it was created by Yuuki Terumi?" Kokonoe offered and Ragna swore there'd be no end to the surprises. "And get this, Terumi has one of his own and a special code that can shut yours down easily."

Ragna was silent for a few moments before he gave a heated glare to hit his master. "WHEN were you planning on tell me this?" At Hakumen's refusal to look at him Ragna began getting even angrier. "What else are you not telling me!?"

"Calm down, I'm sure he had his reasons," Kokonoe said as she took a seat in a nearby bean bag. "Still, that should probably save you a bit of pain if you ever meet the green haired bastard… but keep this in mind, that monster's mine."

"Fat chance," Ragna said with a glare directed at the Grimalkin. "The bastard's taken too much away from me."

"And he killed both of my parents and screwed over plenty of other people, so I suggest you get in line," Kokonoe said return the heated glare, causing sparks to fly between the two.

' _I didn't think he'd be THIS bad with women,_ ' Hakumen thought to himself as he realized his apprentice had a knack for pissing off members of the opposite sex. "I think that's enough from the both of you." His words were simple, but his tone was filled with power and authority, showing that he wouldn't move on this. Eventually, the two dropped their glares. "Good."

"Okay _dad_ ," Kokonoe said, her tone dripping with sarcasm before she stretched her arms. "Make yourself at home, grab some sweets, do whatever the hell you want, I'll be in my room watching anime."

"Anime?" Ragna repeated cocking his head. "The hell's anime?"

"...You're kidding me," Kokonoe groaned as she shook her head. "What kind of backwater home did you… Oh, right." Letting out a sigh Kokonoe started walking to a different room. "Follow me, but make sure you don't make too much noise. There are far too many asshats here that would try to kill us both for that arm of yours."

Ragna hesitated before shrugging and following the pink half-cat to the other room leaving Hakumen alone for the moment. The Hero crossed his arms before leaning back on the wall and remained silent.

"Do you really intend to have me wait?" Rachel demanded from where she'd teleported in, her eyes narrowed in a glare. "Vampires may be the sovereign rulers of the night, but a lady still has several things that requires her attention."

"I might consider apologizing if you hadn't brought this upon yourself Harlequin," Hakumen said cooly in response. "She's telling him too much, what if she informs him-?"

"All facts of what you fear will never come surface by her words, she knows to keep quiet with that much…" the young Alucard said. "Those two will both play a prominent part in the drama that is the world's fate, I'd hope that they receive at least some time of enjoy themselves… especially Ragna since he must deal with you as his teacher."

"...Should I pass along your words of concerns to him?" Hakumen asked with a hint of whimsy in his words. Rachel glared at him once more, but said nothing.

 _ **-Some Time Later-**_

Ragna was sweating as he delivered strike after strike to the air, practicing his form and technique. It was early in the morning and Hakumen had yet to come to him to begin their training so he was currently practicing what he'd learned. In the time Ragna had been with Hakumen, he'd become much stronger; his body had become completely toned with muscles, his reflexes and training instincts were helping him to see through and avoid some of his masters attacks, and he'd even mastered several types of _Ars Magus_ arts, including Gain, Defense, Combat, Ranged, and Stealth.

However, that didn't make his training with his teacher any easier. As Ragna had continued to progress, Hakumen began pushing him harder and harder. Though it'd become routine long ago, every day was still a fight to survive for Ragna and he couldn't allow himself to drop his guard for a second. In fact the only time he was truly allowed to relax was when he spent time with Kokonoe, but that only once a month.

The two of them had started to get along a little better, Ragna had someone that he could spend time with instead of his Master and Kokonoe (deny it as much as she could) had some company when she wanted to watch anime with someone… though now Ragna was having theories that the vampire stalking him was a _Sailor Scout_ in disguise.

Back to his training, he sent out a straight jab with his right arm before following with a swift roundhouse kick and lunged forward with a powerful haymaker with his left arm. As Ragna went to follow the attack though with an uppercut, his arm gave a painful throb before an attack of shadows emerged from the ground, sailing forward and striking a tree a short distance away. Once the attack faded, Ragna saw that he'd managed to shred quite a bit of the tree away despite him using that technique by accident.

"Whoa! What the hell was that!?" he shouted in surprise, staring at his arm that was still giving off black, shadow, flames. "That definitely wasn't like any other _Ars_ I've used, I've never attacked with whatever that darkness was… how'd I pull it off anyways?"

Realizing he didn't have much of an idea of how he'd pulled it off the first time, the hero's apprentice decided he'd just keep trying to work with it until he got something that looked like what he'd just done.

"Alright, wave of darkness… wave of darkness…" Ragna said to himself as he tried charging his power and flung his arm upwards. He managed to get a sort of shadowy attack, but the attack was more of a slowly moving wall in front of him that didn't seem to have that much power behind it. "Well that sure as hell wasn't it…"

Sighing to himself, Ragna got back into a ready position before rushing with the same combination that he had earlier; first a solid jab followed by roundhouse kick before rushing with another haymaker from his left arm before channeling his power in his right arm and swiping it upward, again sending the wave of darkness out, though with less power than before.

' _Looks like this is still going to need some work, but at least I got it this time,_ ' Ragna thought to himself before readying himself before this time starting with a more simple haymaker before swiping his arm upwards and unleashing the dark attack. ' _So it looks like the attack comes out much better if I through another attack first… Okay, let's work with this for a while until I get it down.'_

For the next better part of an hour Ragna worked on developing his recently learned technique, trying to combine it use with different attacks and in different combinations. Using the ability by itself was difficult, it almost felt like it needed to be combined with an already established action. Letting out a deep breath as he finally managed to complete one of his strikes, Ragna glanced around before realizing Hakumen still hadn't come for him.

"Damn it! Where is he!?" Ragna shouted as he looked around. "He'd never wait this long before coming to find me, so what the hell gives!?" Storming out of the foliage, the silver haired youth traveled before finding his master kneeling peacefully underneath the shade of a large oak. "Oi! Master! We getting started soon or what!?"

' _He's acting very childish…'_ Hakumen thought to himself while he continued to kneel in meditation. ' _If I don't teach him patience now, he's never learn.'_

"Oi Master! Master!" Ragna continued to shout in front of his face with no response. ' _Is he asleep?'_ Ragna was kneeling right in front of Hakumen's helm. "...Fine, be that way. Maybe I'll just keep shouting and-"

" **AND DO WHAT?"** came the powerful voice of the six hero's leader, whose very words were enough to send Ragna sprawling backwards. **"** _ **Tell me apprentice, what is so important that you'd spend the entire time shouting right in my face!?**_ **"**

"I-I was only joking!" Ragna quivered from where he panicked on the ground. "I-I've even been practicing and-!" He started sweat as the ground itself began to shake as his master allowed more and more of his powers to be unleashed. "...You're mad at me, aren't you?"

" **Mad? Don't be foolish; I'M LIVID!"**

Seeing the powerful punch coming for him Ragna rolled out of the way and quickly leapt to his feet, only to be struck in his gut by Hukemen's knee and sent flying a full thirty feet back landing on his back with a powerful crash. Gripping his rib cage in a deep wince as he raised his head, he noticed his master walking towards him with a slow, menacing walk.

"...Goodbye cruel world…" Ragna whimpered. "You've been a real dick to me."

Around three hours later, Rachel teleported into the training field with her accomplices, Nago, Gii, and for the first time Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. The werewolf was currently present because Rachel had decided she would enjoy herself in a picnic and had brought a basket along with several masterfully made sweets and teas.

"This seems to be a good place," Rachel noted as they came to a small clearing. Valkenhayn nodded and quickly laid down of cloth for the vampiress to rest on and began putting out the sweets for her to enjoy. Within a minute the Alucard princess was enjoying an exquisite scone and had a spread of other magnificent food to enjoy at her leisure.

"Are you enjoying yourself milady?" Valkenhayn asked from where he respectfully stood off to the side.

"Indeed I am Valkenhayn," Rachel said with a very pleased smile. "The setting is perfect, the food is your best work as of yet, and your quick service has put me entirely at ease.

'Thank you for such praise, but it was a simple matter," Valkenhayn said, though he carried a very proud smile. "If I couldn't help arrange the perfect picnic and prepare the proper food for her highness then what kind of butler would I be?"

"I suppose there is some truth to that," Rachel said before setting her scone down and instead bringing a cup of tea to her lips. She'd only taken a single sip when Ragna when sailing by her, screaming as he went before smashing in embedding his body in the side a tree. "Oh? It seems our entertainment has arrived."

"Damn... it…" Ragna groaned as he painfully pulled himself away from the tree and feel to the ground. He panted for several moments and tried to regain his breath, his clothes were already torn in several places and he was entirely covered in deep, slowly healing bruises. Though strained he slowly raised his head where he saw Rachel looking at him in contempt and scowled.

"My, it seems that we may have a stray rodent attempting to steal food from our humble gathering," Rachel said plainly causing Ragna to scowl and overflow with rage.

"Dammit Bunny Leech! What the hell are you doing here!?" he shouted at Rachel, causing Valkenhayn to grit his teeth at the unflattering nickname to his master.

"Bunny Leech? How dare you, I'm simply here enjoying a well deserved picnic and to observe the nature around me. Unfortunate that the scenery has to be outright plagued by the likes of of you."

"Oh, well deserved picnic? That's a laugh! All you ever seem to did is sit on your ass and watch while I get the shit beaten out of me!" Ragna yelled, apparently having much more energy in his current enragement.

"Madam…" Valkenhayn began respectfully as he adjusted the cuffs on his suit. "This unintelligent _punk_ has disrespected you and has earned a death penalty countless times over. Have I your permission to take out the trash?"

"Try it when I'm not busy you old fart!" Ragna shouted as he quickly glanced around before speaking in a much softer tone. "There's no telling when my master's going to catch up to me."

"Leave him be for now Valkenhayn," Rachel instructed her butler. "He'll need everything he has left is he wants to survive against Mr. Hero, despite how little he actually has to use."

"Wait a minute, Valkenhayn? You're THE Valkenhayn!? One of the Six Heroes!?" Ragna shouted with surprise. "But why on earth are you working for that little-?"

" **When did I ever say you could rest?"** Ragna heard Hakumen's voice come from directly behind him, indicating that he'd allowed the Susanooh to sneak up on him.

The youth swiftly dodged to the side to avoid Hakumen's initial jab, and ducked to avoid the powerful overhead swipe, but Hakumen's uppercut was fast enough to send a high pitched scream as it sailed through air before smashing Ragna in the face with and sending off an impact sound resembling a powerful cannon. Ragna then realized, with a gut full of terror and a face filled with pain, that the clouds that had been high above him an instant ago seemed to be far below him. Soon, he was watching as the ground race towards him until his entire body was filled with unimaginable pain the instant he made contact.

"Enjoy your flight?" he heard Rachel ask with whimsey as he painfully groaned from the crater he'd created upon landing. Ragna was both bloody and filthy, not exactly the best mix to have. Using every bit of strength he had the youth tried to rise out of the ground, but he was too overwhelmed by the pain and collapsed back into the dirt. "Oh my, is that really all you can do? I was expecting you to have at least a _little_ bite to go along with that rather annoying bark of yours."

Ragna gritted his teeth as he continued to lay on the floor, the soil beginning to turn a sickly shade of crimson as his own blood seeped into it. He didn't appear to be moving, he just continued to lay there, too beaten to even curse. Hakumen mercilessly approached and grabbed his apprentice by his shirt's collar, Ragna was too beaten to even resist.

" **Fight back,"** Hakumen demanded his apprentice, but he received no response. **"I said said fight back!"** Ragna continued to do nothing, just lay there limply and struggled to breath. **"This isn't how I trained you thus far! I told you that I could break under the intensity, now fight through it!"** Ragna's only response was a shallow groan. Realizing he wouldn't get anywhere with him, Hakumen let the energy he'd produced fade and roughly threw Ragna to the ground in front of him.

"...Shall we stop him Milady?" Valkenhayn asked, though his face remained passive. Rachel merely watched the following scene unfold with narrowed eyes, though she seemed to have her attention solely on the master and apprentice duo, not even appearing to have heard her werewolf butler.

"I expected better of you," Hakumen said as he stared down of the still form of his pupil. "All the training I gave you, all the tests you've struggled through… but you just give up, you give up and complain, such is your path…" Valkenhayn raised an eyebrow as his old comrade's right arm slowly went for the _Okami_ before grabbing the god slaying blade by the handle. "But now it is time I end this attempt to change fate…"

' _This is all he truly amounts to I suppose,_ ' Rachel said as she let out a soft sigh. ' _Well what more could one expect from a beast like him? ...But I doubt his story should end just yet._ '

The Vampiress was about to tell her butler to stop his old companion, she heard a grunt filled with surprise and pain. Turning her eyes to the source of the voice, her face became one that she was rarely wore; one of confusion. The White Susanooh was a good ten feet back from where he'd been a moment ago, he still had yet to pull his sword and currently appeared to be off balance as was evident shown between the deep skid marks on the ground between where he'd been standing and where he was now.

Ragna was now on his feet, still breathing heavily as most of his body emitted a dark black flame. His right arm was high in the air and the ground in front of him was badly torn, showing that he'd sent out some form of a darkness based attack. He slowly returned to a strained, barely standing position and Rachel saw that his wounds had slightly healed from his sudden burst. Ragna then gave a pained smirk with his blood and dirt covered face.

"When did I… ever say anything… about… giving up?" he said to Hakumen as his wounds continued to slowly close, leaving his master staring at him. "I… just needed a moment to catch my breath… Now…" Ragna got into a brawler's position, ready to begin the next round of fisticuffs between the two. "LET'S GO!"

' _He's continuing his foolish struggle, even in THAT condition?_ ' Rachel thought to herself before giving off the smallest of smirks. "What an idiot…"

 _ **Nine Hours Later**_

In total, the two spent a full twelve hours of sparring with each other… well sparring is a rather generous term. Ragna spent almost all of the time being struck repeatedly by Hakumen, having little to no control over the situation at hand and struggling to survive.

By the time sparing had finally ended Ragna was lying on the floor, all of his bones had been broken several times, he'd suffered attack most others would find fatal, and Hakumen had beaten in ways he'd never thought were possible, without so much as drawing the sword he used.

Rachel Alucard now sat on her picnic blanket, she'd watched the two spar the entire day and now was enjoying the last of her nighttime tea as Ragna laid on the ground in pain. Hakumen towered over his pupil and looked down on him. Even if it was near impossible to see the slightest hint of emotion from someone in armor, Hakumen seemed to be making his thoughts that much harder to read.

"...You pass," he said as he slowly turned and walked away to meditate. "Barely."

"It would seem that Mr. Hero is giving you more credit than where it is due," Rachel said to Ragna with her usual hint of whimsy. The Grim Reaper on the floor could barely growl at her with the state he was in. "You've somehow managed to escape death."

"How can you say that?" Ragna groaned from where he lay on the floor. "If I'd stayed down maybe then I wouldn't have gotten the ever living shit beaten out of me…"

' _He didn't see his master go for his sword?_ ' Rachel thought to herself with perplextion, as she'd assumed Ragna had been fighting so hard just so that he wouldn't have died. Eventually, she decided to satisfy her curiosity. "If that's your opinion then do tell, why did you stand?"

"And let you continue to talk shit about me? I'd rather have died," Ragna said curtly as he tried to get up; only managing to sit up. Rachel and Valkenhayn glared at him and his tone before he continued. "I don't know, giving up just looked like the easy way out, but it wouldn't get me what I needed. If I want to get revenge on that bastard, maybe I will have to fight through hell… might as well get used to it now."

' _...Perhaps he actually knows his position better than I would've guessed, and yet he refuses to back down,_ ' Rachel thought to herself as she stared at Ragna, trying to get a better understanding of the slowly healing boy in front of him.

"What the hell are you staring at Bunny Leech?" Ragna asked with a curt scowl.

Rachel shook her head at his behavior. "I refuse to be with such an appalling and uncreative nickname any longer. Henceforth I demand that you call me 'Lady Rachel Alucard' and for your sake you'd do well to remember that."

"Rachel, huh? So that's your name," Ragna said as Valkenhayn finally finished picking up all of the supplies. It took him a moment, but then he realized an important detail. "Hold on a second, you told me that you'd only give me your name when I impressed you, so does that mean…?"

Rachel's smile was unnerving to Ragna, but it was unnerving in the way on how different it was than what he'd expected of her. All of her other smiles had cruel, haughty, and very, very condescending, making him feel like she didn't see him any better than the dirt she walked on. But this smile seemed… warm, almost with a tone of approval in it. Ragna didn't really know what to say, but he slowly began to give an awkward smile back to the-

"Valkenhayn, do you have any idea what the cretin is referring to?" Rachel said causing Ragna to choke on his own breath for a moment.

"Not a clue milady," Valkenhayn said with complete dignity. "Perhaps Lord Hakumen managed to rattle the fools remaining brains a bit too harshly this time."

"Yes, that seems like a rather valid hypothesis," Rachel admitted. "After all, what on earth could I possibly be impressed with, a young man flailing about while Mr. Hero doesn't even use a sliver of his actual power? I was much more impressed by Valkenhayn's meal and he's made nothing but perfection since I've met him."

"You are too kind Madam."

"What the hell is this for!?" Ragna shouted enraged as he finally managed to make it to his feet. "You said that if I managed to impress you you'd give me your actual name didn't you!?"

"Accusing me of something I said? My how deluded you're proving to be, implying I did something you most likely dreamed in one of your perverse fantasies," Rachel said to him condescendingly.

"Like hell I did!" the youth shouted, his face now crimson with the deep that he was giving.

"Well regardless I feel that it's my duty to inform you," Rachel began before giving the smile Ragna had come to know very well. " _You'd make a terrible consort._ "

"Y-You-!" Ragna began to shout, his face turning so red it was nearly the color of blood, but it was at that instant that Rachel and Valkenhayn teleported back to their castle and disappeared from his view. **"STUPID BLOODSUCKING RABBIT!"**

Watching from a distance, Hakumen observed as his apprentice continued to shout to the heavens; every syllable a curse out at the Alucard while shaking his fists in his rage. Hakumen very clearly remembered Rachel's offer to his apprentice as a witness and knew he could take his side the next time the issue came up… but what fun would that be?

 _ **A Long Time Later**_

Ragna leapt to the side to avoid Hakumen initial punch to his chest before ducking to dodge the horizontal slash his master sent his way. He approached his teacher while crouching to close the distance and begin the attack, but at Hakumen sent a familiar uppercut that would send him sky ward, he instinctively leapt back and felt the harsh breeze as the attack barely missed him.

Hakumen then slid forward with a sliding attack lower kick, but Ragna had prepared a new move for a situation like this. Channeling his _BlazBlue's_ power in his leg, he leapt into the air to avoid the attack and brought down a powerful kick that managed to glance off of his masters armor. Upon landing, he swung his sword at his master, but Hakumen managed to catch the blade with a single hand.

Keeping a firm grip on the practice sword, the White Susanooh swung his sheathed Okami is a harsh arc with a single hand, but Ragna managed to prepare for the attack and quickly raised a barrier to defend him from the strike. Then, while Hakumen sword, Ragna leapt in the air and delivered a roundhouse kick to his master's helm which was blocked by Hakumen's sheathed sword.

The master threw the apprentice back, letting go of the practice sword as he did. Ragna managed to stick the landing and skidded back a minimal distance. As Hakumen approached with a quick and vicious slash, Ragna managed to deflect the attack, but his wooden sword shattered as a result. Dropping the broken weapon, Ragna roared as he he channeled power into his arm and rushed forward while Hakumen was open from the last attack. His master tried to reverse the blade for a second strike, but it was too slow as Ragna managed to get a solid hit on his side before being stuck in the face by the sheath and being blasted back.

Hakumen took a look at where he'd been hit before reverting his attention to his apprentice, who wasn't down for long before leaping to his feet. The attack left a swell on his face and had broken his nose, but that was nothing new to him. Ragna raised his fists to resume the spar, but Hakumen held his hand out and indicated for him to stop.

"Wait, we're done?" Ragna said with confusion. "Come on, we barely started!"

"True, but like you just said, we're done," Hakumen said as he reset the sheathed sword on his back. "You're free to do whatever you want for the rest of today, but I'd suggest bathing; you look filthy."

"Not arguing there, been a while since I could take a simple bath," Ragna said as he looked at his dirt and sweat covered person before snapping his nose back into place. "But did I screw something up? You've never let me go after just a half hour of sparring."

"...I simply felt we were done and decided as such," Hakumen said before unleashing more of his power. "Do NOT question my judgement or there will be consequences."

"All right! All right! I got it…" Ragna said. "I'll see you later then, might as well get clean."

"And make sure you do good job," his teacher said. "You're meeting her tonight aren't you?"

Ragna gave a small shrug before leaving Hakumen by himself. The White Susanooh gave a glance to where he'd been hit earlier, straining to see the tiniest of hits on his armored body before he allowed it to instantly heal.

' _...Two percent,'_ Hakumen thought to himself. ' _He's managing to survive against me at two percent of my real power…_ ' He wasn't feeling proud of his apprentice, nor was he disappointed, he was simply focused on the short half hour spar that had taken place. ' _...I'm becoming less of a teacher and more of a superior sparring partner with the few techniques I'm tutoring him with… So what now?_ '

Hakumen then went to his shade covered tree and began to meditate and think on these events. As was usual now, during his meditation his apprentice refused to come anywhere near him out of fear of being sent into yet another 12 hour round of sparring.

 _ **That Evening**_

Ragna leaned against one of the trees as he waited for Rachel to arrive so that she could teleport him to Sector Seven and he could spend some time with Kokonoe. He was freshly bathed and he'd managed to mend and wash his red vest and black pants so he was ready to go and at least looked presentable (his hair still had that good-bed-hair style to it however).

Hakumen was also present and was in simple mediation as the two waited, making Ragna do his best to stay completely silent so that his master wouldn't demand that the two engage in another round of sparring before leaving. Eventually Rachel showed herself and Hakumen stood.

"I see the two of you are ready to depart," Rachel didn't question it, for she saw that the two were already present.

"I am afraid I will not be leaving," Hakumen said to Rachel as he stood surprising Ragna. Noticing the look of confusion on his apprentice's face, he asure his apprentice. "Do not worry, you'll still be going, I only have a few… issues I must attend to."

"Um… okay?" Ragna said with further confusion. Normally even if all Hakumen did was lean against the wall, he'd always gone with Ragna anytime he'd gone to Sector Seven to ensure that nothing went wrong. Of course nothing had, but with something as dangerous as Ragna's _BlazBlue_ at stake it was better safe than sorry.

"I suppose you'll ask that I retrieve him when the time is right?" Rachel asked and Hakumen nodded to the question. "Very well then, off with you." Ragna didn't even have time to react before being teleported by Rachel's power. "You seem more reserved than usual Mister Hero, is there something wrong?"

"...I'm not making much progress with him," Hakumen began to explain. "I've managed to improve his combat prowess somewhat, but even that has been slow as of late…"

"Yet he used a new form of an attack on you when you were sparring earlier," Rachel noted, making Hakumen aware that she'd been watching the two of them. "I take it you did not teach him that technique."

"No, he created it himself… as he did with his last technique," Hakumen admitted. "Therefor I doubt that he's the one at fault for this… perhaps I've overestimated my abilities as a teacher."

"No need for self pity Mr. Hero, the image never seems to fit you," the vampiress said as she gazed skywards at the full moon. "Bear in mind without your tutelage I doubt he'd ever have amounted to anything this day… despite how little that truly is."

Hakumen was silent for a good moment as he carefully thought about what he would do moving forward, he'd considered several possibilities including having Rachel and Valkenhayn spar with his pupil, but he didn't feel like troubling them would be enough. Ragna needed something new, something unexpected, something meaningful, something…

"Rachel Alucard," Hakumen began, calling her by her actual name for a rare occassion. "I'm afraid I'll need your help, I have something planned for when my apprentice returns."

"You're planning something?" Rachel questioned, remember that neither master nor apprentice were known to think things through especially thoroughly as of late. "And what pray tell do you have in store for that sad excuse for a form of life?"

"I have very little left to teach him, so it's time I gave him his final test," Hakumen told her before looking up to the moon. "His survival is anyone's wager…"

 _ **Sector Seven**_

Ragna blinked as he observed his new surrounding of Kokonoe's personal quarters; he was the only one in the room (thankfully), and it was obvious that the Grimalkin hadn't lost her sweet tooth since he'd last been here.

' _A LITTLE warning Rabbit?_ ' Ragna thought to himself with a scowl as he headed over to Kokonoe's bean bag and seated himself comfortably as he waited for her to show up. Glancing at her desk he noticed Kokonoe's had already laid out tonight's entertainment.

' _Sailor Moon huh?_ ' Ragna thought to himself. ' _Well we still haven't finished the first season yet and Kokonoe really wants to move on to Crystal, whatever that is… Can't believe she's so fond of some ancient video series about magical girls._ '

"I told you I'm not interested!" Ragna heard Kokonoe shout from outside snapping him out of his thoughts. Figuring it would be better safe to be cautious in case someone entered her room, Ragna cast a powerful stealth Ars around his so he couldn't be seen or heard. Normally that'd mean that someone could still see a sag in the beanbag, but Kokonoe had used them enough when she was playing her video games that it already was already sagging.

"But don't you want to come out for drinks Professor? You always shut yourself in your room anyways! Spending some time outside would be-"

"Forget it!" Kokonoe shouted as the door automatically opened before closing in her coworker's face. She let out a groan before glancing to the beanbag where Ragna was sitting as he let the Ars drop. "So you already showed up?"

"Nice to see you too sis," Ragna said mildly, calling Kokonoe by his nickname for her. "Rachel was way too happy to get rid of me… Speaking of which Hakumen's not gonna show today, had something he wanted to take care of."

"Big deal, he's usually a killjoy when we meet up anyways," Kokonoe said gruffly as she took out a bare lollipop stem and tossing it in the trash before grabbing another one from her desk as well as the _Sailor Moon_ DVD. "Ready to finish the first season?"

"As I'll ever be," Ragna said to her as Kokonoe began putting the video inside a small player. "So some guys from earlier wanted to go out with drink with you, did I screw up some possible plans with your coworkers?"

"More like you gave me plans," Kokonoe said gruffly. "Would've rejected them anyways if you weren't coming over to watch anime with me. Could've caught up on some of the games I've been meaning to get to." The Half-Cat put the video into the player before noticing that her guest was giving her an incredulous look. "What the hell are you staring at?"

"Just sort of surprised someone that's got all this high tech science stuff like you do is just a completely obsessed Otaku," Ragna said earning a harsh glare from Kokonoe. "I mean think about it; you watch anime with me, you play Japanese RPG's, you keep a stash of manga hidden away, sounds like an Otaku to me."

"Yeah, well who's the one watching the anime with me every time?" Kokonoe demanded as she put her hand on her hip. "And who said you could sit in my bean bag chair? Get out!"

"No way! You make me sit on the floor every time! I'm sitting here for once!" Ragna demanded as he stayed where he was.

"Who's the one that's letting you watch this in the first place!?" Kokonoe shouted, continuing their back and forth.

"Yeah, like what else are you going to do, go out with your coworkers and be social for once in your enclosed life?" Ragna didn't shout that comeback, and with Kokonoe's pause he was under the impression that he'd won.

"...Fine," Kokonoe groaned as the video went to the title screen. "Move over."

"Move ov-?" Ragna only managed to begin as Kokonoe to a seat on the beanbag and proceeded to roughly shove Ragna off to the side, leaving the each closely trapped on half of a beanbag. "Hey!"

"Oh quit whining, or do you want to be on the floor after all?" Kokonoe grunted as she used her remote and started playing tonight's entertainment. Ragna was thinking that he might try shoving the Grimalkin odd the seat, but as she nonchalantly leaned back on his shoulder and crossed her arms he decided it would do much good to argue when she was acting this stubborn.

A good way into their binge, Ragna watched as _Sailor Moon_ activated her magic powered by her friends to finally strike down the evil Queen Beryl when he heard a soft crunching sound, seeing that Kokonoe started chowing down on potato chips and the crumbs were mostly spilling onto him rather than her.

"You're getting food all over me," he growled, but Kokonoe continued snacking and kept her eyes glued to the show.

"Quit your complaining and watch the show," Kokonoe grunted, before offering him the bag. "They're not bad, you should try some."

"Gonna have to pass," Ragna refused. "According to Hakumen, snacks are for the weak willed and I don't need him getting pissed at me."

"Oh, well if _Master Hakumen_ says that you shouldn't then _I'm sorry_ for even offering them to you," Kokonoe said with obvious sarcasm as she continued snacking. "Come on, are you going to listen to _everything_ Hakumen tells you to do?"

"You're not the one that has to spar with him for a literal half day whenever he gets pissed at you," Ragna reminded as he tried to brush the crumbs off of him.

"Please you're over reacting, it's not like a snack or two isn't going to piss him off; I've called him some pretty unflattering names and he hasn't said shit to me. What'd you do to piss him off?"

"...Let's just say it didn't take a lot after the first time," Ragna said, appearing to shiver and unable to face Kokonoe. "But lately... I dunno, he's been acting different, especially today. I mean he's never talked to me much, but since I last seen you he's said about two sentences to me. And today when we were training he let me go after we'd barely gotten started…"

Kokonoe eyes narrowed as she grabbed her remote and paused the show. "Has he tried to kill you then?"

"No more than usual," Ragna told her truthfully. "And if he really was disappointed with me I get the feeling I wouldn't be here talking to you right now. All I can really say is that everything about him has seemed off lately, in fact the only time he ever seems to be acting like his old self is when we're training together and that's it."

"That so…" the scientist said, still appearing deep in thought.

"Jeeze, what's with you today? Aren't you the type that would normally shrug this stuff off and tell me not to worry about it?" Ragna grunted, before he grabbing the remote and resuming the show.

"...Promise that you'll be careful," Kokonoe said, seemingly out of character from the cold, stubborn, researcher that Ragna thought he knew. "There's no telling when Hakumen's going to get drastic and try to kill you."

"He's always trying to kill me," Ragna scoffed. "It's part of my training, remember?"

"I don't mean threatening to kill you for failing your training, I mean he wants to outright murder you," Kokonoe said darkly. Ragna was about to protest and question her further for details, but noticing his surrogate older sister as the adjusted herself to lean on his shoulder, he knew it wasn't exactly comforting for Kokonoe to talk about this.

"I'll be careful, I promise," Ragna told her as it looked like _Sailor_ was finally about to triumph. He tried to shake his thoughts of a murderous master out of his mind, but it was then that Rachel teleported in and appeared before the two blocking the view. "Wha-? Rabbit, what the hell are you doing here now!? It hasn't been that long!"

"I'm aware of that, but this is actually a request from your master," Rachel told him causing Ragna's eyes to narrow. "Apparently he's calling this your _Final_ test, I'd suggest you return now lest he become impatient."

Ragna nodded as he got up from the beanbag and the show's finale continued to play in the background. "I guess this is it then," Ragna said with little emotion. "Take care of yourself sis."

"Idiot, don't tell me that when you're about to deal with god knows what Hakumen has planned," Kokonoe told him. "Well catch up on the show another time, alright?"

"It's a da-" Ragna began before getting interrupted by Rachel's teleporting send off. Kokonoe blinked a few times at the sudden disappearance before glaring at the young Vampiress.

"A long goodbye would not have served well for either of you, this was a mercy," she explained before teleporting off herself, leaving Kokonoe alone in her room with the looming feeling of dread for her brother's safety.

 _ **The Church Ruins**_

"-te," Ragna finished before glancing around and observing his surroundings. He was now standing just outside the charred ruins of his home. His master Hakumen was standing a few feet in front of him, holding what looked like a large, curved blade. ' _Won't even let me finish Rabbit?_ '

"Catch," Hakumen said bluntly before tossing the sword to Ragna who managed to catch the blade despite its weight. Giving the blade a few practice swings Ragna decided tried to get a proper feel of the sword he was using. A minute later he brought the sword into a ready position. "At ease apprentice; you won't be facing me a second time today."

"I won't? Then why the hell did you give me this sword?"

"Truthfully this wasn't mine to give, your caretaker was actually keeping them safe for a late ally of ours… It belonged to man who was an old friend of Jubei, Kokonoe's father. Someone who, to my understanding, played a vital part in the Dark War."

"A vital part? So he fought in the final battle," the apprentice assumed, remembering some of the stories of the horrors and struggle again the being that could only be classified as death itself.

"He didn't, he actually died long before our final encounter with the _Black Beast._ But his sacrifice was what allowed us to achieve our victory. His battle with that monster resulted in its slumber for a full year, giving Nine the time she desperately needed to create _Ars Magus._ I personally had never met him, but he meant quite a bit to several of the Heroes."

"...No kidding," Ragna said as he continued holding the blade he'd been given. It was strange; now it felt heavier, not from it's own weight but the weight of something else, something deeper. "What was his name?"

"... _Bloodedge_." Ragna couldn't explain it, but just hearing his master speak that name sent a cold shiver down his spine. "That sword's one of the two remaining pieces of his legacy, treat it well."

"I will, but where's the other piece?" Ragna questioned.

"...You'll receive that when you're ready for it, not before. Even saying that you've earned the right to even hold _Blood-Scythe_ is feat that very few could honestly claim," Hakumen promised ominously. "Though I doubt anyone outside of our circle would know of _Bloodedge_ or his actions."

There was a small gust of that blew through the area, carrying the scent of roses with it. Master and apprentice turned and saw Rachel Alucard being accompanied by here butler, Valkenhayn. The werewolf was carrying a set of black leather straps with a metal brace on it and well as a strange black glove that looked similar to Ragna's _BlazBlue._

"These might've been hastily made, but I do hope they meet your liking Lord Hakumen," Valkenhayn said politely and Hakumen nodded. The Butler then walked over to Ragna and handed him the set of straps. "Put these on and it shall give you somewhere to keep that blade when you have no need to swing it around aimlessly."

"Swinging around aimlessly he says," Ragna muttered at the phrasing, but started putting his arms through the straps and starting to equip it. It took a moment to figure out how to put it on right and another moment to adjust the length of the straps but he managed to equip it. Taking he put the sword on the metal buckle with managed to hold the blade vertically (not horizontal yet).

"And this glove, it obviously goes on your left arm," Valkenhayn told him as he handed Ragna the other piece of black cloth. Ragna put it over his left arm, realizing that it even copied the length that his _BlazBlue_ took up of his arm and the fit was pretty dang snug.

"So… what's the point of having this?" Ragna questioned.

"Fake or not, there are several people that would like nothing more than to take your _BlazBlue_ and utilize its power for their own desires," Rachel told him. "That glove will give you a slight alibi on your journey, making it seem that your arm simply has another glove on it instead of a Seither prosthetic."

' _On my journey?_ ' Ragna thought to himself. ' _This must be my final test.'_ "Where am I going?"

"...That's up to you," Hakumen told him, further confusing Ragna. "My final test for you, Ragna the Bloodedge, is to send you into the world on your own. You will have support from none of us, you will be solely accountable for whether you succeed or die."

"Ragna… the Bloodedge?" Ragna repeated before nodding. It sounded like a good title, one that would fit him. "So that's it then? My final goal is to survive in the world on my own?"

"No, surviving the world is meaningless; I want you to live in the world. I want you to grow stronger in your own path; train your body, sharpen your skills, learn new techniques. I want you to be strong enough when I see you again, this is your mission."

"...And that's it?" Ragna asked, he didn't feel overwhelmed by the idea of going off on his own, but it still felt like a big change from all of the time he'd spent with Hakumen.

"Almost, I have only three rules for you in your journey. The First Rule, do not abuse your power and use it to incite anarchy and ruin. Failing this will lead to my finding and killing you where you stand," Hakumen threatened. "The Second rule, you will not attack the Librarium branches; the time for your revolution has yet to come and you are still too young. Leave them be. Third and lastly, you are forbidden from entering the 13th Hierarchical city."

"Kagutsuchi? What's wrong with going there?" Ragna knew that Kagutsuchi was still incomplete, in fact construction had been delayed countless time and it didn't sound like there'd be anything that'd change that fact.

"...It is not as it appears; many hidden dangers lie in that town, dangers that you must to confront another time," Hakumen told him. "Return here when I summon you, then we shall discuss your true path moving forward.

"Return? Return when?" Ragna had to ask.

"You'll know when, I guarantee it," Hakumen said ominously before turning to leave. "I pray that you don't disappoint me, otherwise-"

"I get it, I die where I stand, you'll kill me and move on. I've been with you long enough that I know how you think," Ragna muttered.

"And apprentice?" Hakumen began, with his back turned as he continued to leave. Ragna cocked his head, fully expecting a last minute lecture. "...I wish you luck on your journey."

"Wha-?!" Ragna sputtered out as Hakumen continued to leave, not even turning to address his flabbergasted apprentice. "So he spends almost all of my training kicking my ass and only when I'm about to go does he say something remotely nice to me!?"

"I thought you just claimed you knew how your master thinks," Valkenhayn said with a small chuckle. Ragna glared at the elderly butler, but in the end he knew he had little ground in that argument. "I'd advise you simply take the kind words and move on; thinking about something mysterious your master said won't assist you or he at this point."

"...Yeah, I guess you got a point," Ragna admitted before turning to Rachel. "This looks like goodbye for now."

"Please, don't fake sentimentality to me, your acting skills are appalling," Rachel told him with her classy insults. Normally she would have expected him to start yell at her or cursing her out, but at the moment he only appeared to chuckle. "You are a strange creature Ragna, I doubt that I'll ever understand you not that I'd wish to."

"Figured you'd say something like that before I leave," Ragna admitted, failing to hide the smallest of bittersweet smiles on his face. "You always needed to have the last word."

"You're talking to me like you have a strange sense of familiarity," Rachel noted before allow herself a soft smile that Ragna didn't see as he'd begun to walk off. "Are you trying to say that you'll actually miss me?"

"...Maybe a little," Ragna could only admit as he walked off, heading for an unknown destination as Rachel and Valkenhayn stayed where they were in front of the church.

"Shall we return Madam Rachel?" Valkenhayn asked with all the courtesy a man in his position would use.

"Yes, we shall watch until the time is right… when Ragna has proved himself the true _Bloodedge_."

 _ **Author's Note: Don't own BlazBlue or the Sailor Moon references I brought up.**_

 _ **Sorry to bring this up again, but… NO SPOILERS!**_

 _ **I've been playing the CF Demo and I've been having fun with it (Ragna's Nightmare Edge and Blood-Scythe taking long to adapt to than I thought), but I don't want a SINGLE thing spoiled for me about the ending. I want to see it for myself on the November 1st and bask in the glory… LET. ME. BASK.**_

 _ **Quick FYI, if you have a PS4 and want to play the Demo, go onto the Playstation Network and preorder the game; you get to play the Demo until the full game comes out.**_

 _ **Anyways, MY story was more of another tie-in chapter. I may have rushed the training, but I decided I'd do this where we'd have a main chapter for a general summary of the training and the occasional flashback when needed. It might only be the second chapter of Arc 2, but I've got a lot I want to cover before we get back to the present and since A Reaper's Awakening takes up most of the updates, I felt like I needed to get the story going.**_

 _ **Review response time.**_

 **Mythfan:** Should I be concerned?

 **Shirosaki Kizuro:** Good to hear.

 **Blazeking:** Lot of things happening down the road… STAY TUNED.

 **Yuuki Terumi ouroboros master:** It will be regular chapters, we won't cover the aftermath of the first Arc for some time.

 **Ad:** That's going to be a lot of what this Arc entails.

 _ **Well that's all for now!**_

 _ **Ciao!**_


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